People at the hut that caught fire in Guruvayur. Inset - loco pilot UnniGuruvayur: People residing along the railway track near the Sree Krishna Temple at Guruvayur were jolted by the blaring horns of a train around 10:30 pm on Tuesday. It sounded like a distress call and they were right. Only that the distress was in their neighborhood.
A 73-year-old feverish woman was trapped inside her burning hut. Her neighbor who was alerted by the loco pilot dashed into the thatched hut and carried her out in the nick of time.
A.N. Unni, the loco pilot of the passenger train from Ernakulam to Guruvayur, spotted the hut in flames in the darkness. He slowed down the train and blared the horn continuously to alert the people in the area.
Soman was one of the people awakened by the siren. He broke open the door of the thatched house and rescued the old woman, Leelavathi. She was down with high fever and was unable to get out of danger by herself.
The neighbors then called up Leelavathi's daughter Radhika, who lives in Thrissur. The old woman lived with Radhika’s son Vishnu in the hut. Vishnu was out with friends when the hut caught fire from a burning candle.
Unni said he was grateful to have been instrumental in saving a life. The Tripunithura native has been a loco pilot for 18 years.
"I spotted the flames when we were about to reach the Guruvayur railway station. As we came closer I realized it was a house on fire. I slowed down the train and blared the horn continuously. The people were running to the spot by then. I am happy to have saved a life,” he told Onmanorama.
Unni was accompanied by assistant loco pilot Rajesh Kumar from Rajasthan.
