Cruel online trolls have raised questions following the deaths of a toddler and her heroic father, who were killed when their pram rolled onto the tracks.
The pram, which was carrying two-year-old twins, rolled onto the railway tracks at Carlton train station in Sydney’s south about 12.25pm on Sunday.
The twins’ father, Anand Runwal, 40, leapt down from the platform in a brave attempt to save them, but a passing train struck and killed both the father and one of his daughters, Hilal.
Mr Runwal’s wife, Poonam, watched on in horror and was screaming for her husband and children as another commuter held her back while police jumped onto the track to try and locate her family.
Miraculously, Hilal’s twin sister Hiya was pulled from underneath the train and escaped the accident ‘with hardly a scratch on her’.
NSW Police are investigating what caused the pram to roll over and believe a simple ‘gust of wind’ could have caused the accident.
They said the parents appeared to have taken their hands off the pram for a ‘very short period of time’ before it rolled towards the tracks.
On social media, some cruel trolls claimed the tragedy could have been avoided, just days after the tragic deaths.
‘I’m sorry, prams are fitted with brakes. This is tragic, no doubt about it, but why didn’t he just click the brakes on the pram before leaving it unattended? That’s what most would do,’ one.
A second added: There are signs everywhere to keep hold of your pram on platforms. It’s also common sense. Also prams have brakes for this exact reason.’
Others jumped to the parents’ defence, explaining a runaway pram is very common and that the parents might have had a lapse in concentration.
‘This is such a tragedy. A moment’s lapse of concentration or turning away from a pram, and the worst happens. Sadly, I’ve seen this almost happen so many times,’ one said.
‘My daughter was eight months when my pram rolled from our front gate to the street – unfortunately, I forgot to put the brakes on, and yes, very lucky she survived without any consequences,’ a second added.
Another wrote: ‘Does anyone commenting this think for a second this mother isn’t going to punish herself every day for the rest of her life?’.
Principal owner and consultant at Railway Safety 101 Michael Maartensz told Daily Mail the horrible accident was caused by a ‘tragic set of circumstances’.
Mr Maartensz explained it seemed the pram was briefly left unattended, and a gust of wind, coupled with the platform sloping, pushed it onto the tracks.
When speaking with Daily Mail , Mr Maartensz said passenger screen doors were the ‘ultimate solution’ to preventing accidental deaths at railway stations.
Passenger or platform screen doors weigh 175 kilograms, are about 2.5 meters high, and stretch 170 metres, creating a barrier between the platform and the track.
NSW Sydney Metro installed the safety measure across its eight new city stations, including Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Martin Place, Pitt Street, Central, Waterloo and Sydenham.
However, he claimed the government would not have ‘an appetite’ to install passenger screen doors at existing stations because it is too expensive.
‘It’s really not on their radar. It would cost a lot of money, but boy, it would, definitely save lives and in this case, it would have saved two lives,’ Mr Maartensz said.
‘It’s just really unfortunate that that sort of railway infrastructure is not in place or in all the networks at this point.’
The safety expert added further warning signs alerting parents to the dangers of prams on platforms were cost effective and could be implemented immediately.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland conceded that the installation of guard rails across the whole network would be a massive challenge.
He said the size of the Sydney rail network, which consists of 500 platforms and various types of trains, pose significant logistical and structural issues.
The [train] doors are spaced at different intervals. So for a platform screen door to operate effectively, it needs to line up exactly with the train doors as they stop at the platform,’ Mr Longland told 7 News.
‘And the signalling system needs to ensure that the train can stop at that exact point on the platform’.