How Anil Birua Was Saved from the Face of Death
A 13-year-old rag picker fell under a moving train at Rourkela station. This is the story of how a stranger refused to give up on him.
Parameswar Samal
3 min read 0 views
It was seven in the morning at Rourkela railway station. The Jammu Tawi Express had just pulled in, and the platform came alive with passengers, vendors and porters. Thirteen-year-old Anil Birua, son of the late Ramkrishna Birua of Chaibasa, had no idea what the day had in store for him when he left his shack that morning.
A morning at Rourkela station
A group of young rag pickers waited on the platform to board the train and collect discarded plastic bottles. As soon as the train arrived, the boys sprinted towards the moving coaches. Anil did not want to lose out. He rushed along with his friends, but he missed his step while boarding.
He slipped through the gap between the platform and the coach and fell onto the track, under the moving wheels. Both his legs were badly injured. His friends pulled him out from under the train while onlookers watched in shock as the child lay bleeding and crying in pain.
Lying on a hospital floor
Anil's friends rushed him to Rourkela Government Hospital. He was in a critical condition, and someone shared his photograph on social media.
When Parameswar Samal, Secretary of the social organisation Ame Bharatiya, saw the photo on WhatsApp, he went straight to the hospital. He found Anil lying on the floor. His bandages were soaked red and he kept crying out for water. His friend Bijay sat beside him, holding his hand and hoping someone would come to help. There was no doctor or nurse attending to the boy.
Mr. Samal spoke to the doctor and, as advised, gave Anil some water. The doctor told him that the hospital had no facilities for such an emergency and that the boy had to be moved to Ispat General Hospital (IGH), the steel plant hospital.
A stranger who would not give up
Anil was a complete stranger to Mr. Samal, and no one knew where his family was. Even so, he decided to see it through. He contacted the ADM of Rourkela and obtained a letter so that Anil could be admitted to IGH without a security deposit. With the help of two friends, he shifted Anil there the same day.
At IGH, when the bandages were opened, soil and small pebbles were found in the wounds. Because of the risk of severe infection, a tetanus injection costing Rs 1,811 was given. Anil stayed at IGH for three days before doctors referred him to SCB Medical College, Cuttack. By then gangrene had set into his legs.
From Rourkela to SCB Medical College, Cuttack
Meanwhile, Mr. Samal set out to find Anil's family. He spoke to the SP of Chaibasa, and two days later Anil's mother was traced. When the whole incident was explained to her over the phone, she refused to take responsibility for her son because of the medical and other expenses.
That same night, at around 10 pm, Mr. Samal left Rourkela with Anil in an ambulance for SCB Medical College, Cuttack. Two days later one of Anil's legs was operated on, and three days after that, the other. Anil stayed in hospital for one month and 24 days before Mr. Samal brought him back to Rourkela.
A new beginning
After a meeting with the ADM of Rourkela, Anil was handed over to Rourkela Childline and then transferred to Chaibasa Childline, where he could be cared for close to home.
Anil's story is a reminder that one person's refusal to look away can save a life. If you would like to support this kind of work, please get in touch or see more of our work in the gallery.