By Sally Rawsthorne and Max Maddison
A “heroic” father has died trying to save his twin two-year-old girls as their pram rolled into the path of an oncoming train at a Sydney station on Sunday afternoon.
One of the twin girls died when their pram was hit by the train at Carlton station in the city’s south, but the other miraculously survived.
The 40-year-old man, his wife and their two-year-old twins had stepped out of the lift onto the platform at 12.30, police said.
“As they’ve gotten out of the lift, they’ve taken their hands off the handle for a very, very short time, and whether it’s a gust of wind ... it appears the pram has instantly started to roll in the direction of the train lines,” Superintendent Paul Dunstan told reporters.
The man jumped onto the tracks to rescue his children, in an act Premier Chris Minns lauded as “incredibly brave and heroic”.
“He’s just gone into parent mode and tried to save his two young daughters and in doing so, it’s cost him his life,” Minns said at a press conference on Sunday.
When police arrived at the station, officers saw the pram under the train and heard crying from underneath it.
A father and his two-year-old daughter were killed when they were hit by a train at Carlton station.Credit: Dean Sewell
“Police climbed under the train and rescued one of the children unharmed and reunited her with the mother,” Dunstan said.
The way the pram fell meant the surviving girl was between the station’s tracks and “largely untouched”, he said.
“The father’s jumped down to retrieve the pram and as he’s gone to pick it up and lift it onto the platform, the train has just gone [through],” witness Lauren Langelaar told Nine News.
Another witness, Grant Azzopardi, said: “I heard a woman screaming for her life, ‘Please, please stop’. The train couldn’t stop.”
Premier Chris Minns lauded the 40-year-old father as “incredibly brave and heroic”.Credit: Dean Sewell
The train was not scheduled to stop at Carlton but had slowed to go through the station.
The mother and surviving daughter, who are local to Kogarah, were taken to St George Hospital in a stable condition.
“The two-year-old is doing well, mum is very traumatised. She is a member of the local Indian community, being well-supported by family and friends,” Minns said.
“I hope over time they can gain some small solace knowing the father died in an extraordinary, instinctive act of bravery. That’s not going to bring him or his little daughter back, but it shouldn’t go unremarked upon in the face of a terrible, terrible accident. He gave his own life to try and save his children.”
CCTV footage from Carlton outside train station just before the tragedy took place.Credit: Nine News
CCTV showed the family walking to the train station just before the tragedy, with the father pushing the double pram and the mother walking beside, wheeling a shopping cart.
Nine News reported the family moved to Australia in October last year for a work opportunity for the father.
Carlton station will remain closed for the rest of Sunday, with buses running between Kogarah and Allawah. Sydney Trains hopes to recommence services on Monday, CEO Matt Longland said.
“These sorts of incidents are incredibly rare, but clearly the outcomes are extremely tragic.”
With the station closed off, the public were greeted with reels of police tape late on Sunday afternoon. Hours after the horrific incident, the train involved remained stationary at Carlton Station.
Police remain on the scene, with the station closed for the remainder of Sunday.Credit: Dean Sewell
Firefighters and a Sydney Trains staff member held a large black tarp around the site of the accident as investigators clad in high-vis walked up and down the tracks.
Earlier this month, a woman died at Punchbowl station when she climbed onto the tracks to retrieve something but could not climb back onto the platform as the train approached.
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