Submitted by: Rae Chandran, Tokyo
It was the 27th of April, 2007. I was waiting at the station for the Yokohama bound train when two ladies, standing about 5 meters from me, caught my attention. At about the same time, the train finally rolled into the station and began its gradual deceleration.
And that’s when it happened.
One of the ladies just collapsed (fainted, I think) and fell down next to the still moving train. The momentum of the train was strong enough to drag her down between the train and the edge of the platform – tightly sandwiching her between the two. The train was stopped immediately and there was some confusion as to what should be done. The train could not be moved as she may fall down, and if she did, she would most likely be killed instantly.
And then the most remarkable thing happened – what looked to be a regular business man, followed in turn by other people of various walks of life, just threw down their briefcases and whatever else they were carrying and jumped in together to help the poor woman. First, they all tried to tilt the train sideways so that the woman could be pulled out (I remember seeing even a school boy of maybe 8 years old joining in on this.) But this tactic failed. After a few more rescue attempts failed, a very thin man slid down under the train and pushed the woman up from beneath while a few people standing above her pulled her up and out. Although she was unconscious, there were no injuries that I could see. By this time, the ambulance had arrived and she was taken to the hospital.
It was remarkable to see all those people thoughtlessly joining in to help another human being. We hear so many stories about how it’s a jungle out there, but when we see scenes like this, we are reminded once again about the goodness inherent in every human heart.
