‘Never ran so fast in my life’: Toddler miraculously saved from oncoming train in Russia (VIDEO)
CCTV catches race to save child's life as cargo train hits brakes (VIDEO)
(35 minutes later)
Two Russian railroad security officers snatched a three-year-old child from an almost certain death, pulling the minor away from an oncoming train as the toddler walked unaccompanied on rail tracks. Their heroic leap to save the child was captured on CCTV.
A life-or-death race to save a child from an oncoming train in southern Russia was caught on CCTV. The railroad security team reached the boy as cargo train slammed on the brakes.
Footage of the incident which happened on Saturday in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region near Ashe train station shows a three-year-old child walking along tracks without any supervision. The child appears to freeze after seeing an oncoming cargo train traveling along the line.
Staring death in the face and unable to move, the child is snatched from the train's path by railroad security. The duo had set out earlier than usual on patrol, and were just in time.
Staring death in the face and unable to move, the child is then suddenly swooped off his feet, by one of the two rescuers from the railroad security, that by a small chance of fate departed to patrol their segment just a few minutes earlier than usual.
One of the rescuers, Arseny Ghazarian told LifeNews that campers from a nearby site often stray onto the tracks.
Speaking to Russian tabloid LifeNews one of the rescuers, Arsenty Khazaryan, explained that the incident happened near a popular camp site, which constantly sees vacationers crossing the rail tracks illegally.
“The most important thing", he added, "is that the child's life was saved.”
He explained that on Saturday, he and his partner went on patrol at 4:56pm local time, before noticing a child a minute later.
Desperate to save the boy, Ghazarian fell some 20 meters short but says sheer adrenaline carried him on.
“We went on the route, saw a child, ran, and barely made it,” 57-year-old Khazaryan explained. “The most important thing is that the child's life was saved.”
“I cursed myself, when I fell – because of me, old fool, a child could have died."
“Can you imagine, no mother, no father, no one was there,” Khazaryan continued. “I ran so fast as never before in my life.”
"I never ran so fast in my life," he said. “Can you imagine, no mother, no father, no one was there?"
As he tried to cover the distance of “some 130 meters” he and his partner also signaled the train to stop. The train slammed on its brakes and began honking, making the child scared and unable to move.
They had ‘some 130 meters’ to cover but managed to signal the train driver, who slammed on the brakes and blew the horn.
Dashing with all his might, Khazaryan fell about 20 meters away from the child, but the adrenaline rush forced the security guard to continue his strive to save the toddler, whom he managed to grab just as about the train came to a stop at the spot where the youngster stood.
This may have actually frozen the child with fear, as he stood still and stared at the oncoming train.
“I cursed myself, when I fell – because of me, old fool, a child could have died,” Khazaryan said.
He explained that after some time the child's “drunken” mother appeared and took the toddler, who had suffered no injuries after the miraculous escape.
