CHENNAI: A 48-year-old woman died saving her two daughters from being hit by an electric train while crossing the railway tracks at the Fort railway station on Sunday evening.
The deceased was identified as E Chitra, a pharmacy staff and resident of Triplicane. Her husband, Ezhumalai, is an auto driver.
While crossing the tracks Chitra realised that the train was nearing them. So, she pushed her two daughters off the tracks and got hit before she could escape, police said.
On Sunday, Chitra and her two daughters, Subiksha (20) and Varsha (19), had gone to T Nagar to purchase clothes. After shopping, the trio boarded the Tambaram-Beach train from Mambalam and alighted at the Fort station to board a train to Triplicane in the MRTS (Mass Rapid Transport System) line.
They were crossing the tracks to get to the MRTS railway line platform when Chitra noticed the train approaching fast. While she immediately pushed her daughters off the railway track, Chitra was crushed to death.
On information, Government Railway Police (GRP), Egmore, reached the scene and recovered her body and sent it to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) for post-mortem. A case has been registered and further investigations are on.
Railway Police officials said that the tragedy could have been avoided had the family opted to use the foot-overbridge instead of crossing the railway tracks.