A newborn baby, delivered in a train toilet on Tuesday night, slipped through the outlet. The desperate mother jumped off the moving train within seconds and later, both were found alive and unhurt.

Even the baby did not have any injury, said railway officials. Rinku Devi and her baby were admitted to Purulia Sadar Hospital early on Wednesday morning for observation.

The 28-year-old woman, with her husband Bhola Rai, was going to her parents’ home at Sapurpaturi near Chhapra in Bihar. The couple had boarded 8181 Tata Chappra Express at Tatanagar on October 6.

According to railway authorities, the couple were in the general compartment. Around 11 pm, Rinku felt labour pains and went to the toilet, where she delivered the baby. But the infant slipped down the toilet hole and in a desperate attempt to save the baby, she jumped of the running train. At the time, the train was between Ghamaria and Birajpur stations.

The passengers thought the woman had attempted suicide and raised a hue and cry. Soon Rai realised that it was his wife who jumped off and he pulled the emergency chain.

By then, the train had moved about two kilometres, and when the crowd reached the spot where Rinku had jumped off, they found her sitting beside the tracks with the baby in her arms.

“After getting the news of delivery in the train, a nurse, a doctor, a woman booking clerk and I rushed to the spot,” said S M Majumdar, the station manager of Purulia. “It is a miracle that both the mother and child are safe.”

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