Hours after motorman R Ramchandran (42) died in Friday’s accident, his shocked wife Varadalaxmi was trying to figure out how to break the news to her five-year-old daughter Nityashri. Ramchandran’s friends and relatives say the daughter and father were very attached to each other.

“While coming to the hospital, she was asking about him and wanted to come with us. She is unaware of the incident,” said Ramchandran’s neighbour Shailesh Sawant. “She was complaining about her bicycle and had asked him to have it repaired,” said another neighbour who had met Ramchandran a day ago.

Ramchandran, trapped in the train for nearly four hours could be extricated after his mangled motorman’s cabin was cut open using gas-cutters. His arm had to be amputated as it was stuck under the collapsed girder. Ramchandran’s friends and relatives were also agitated that it took so long to pull him out. A Dombivli resident, Ramchandran, who had joined the railways in 1988, could not be saved.

Apart from his wife and daughter, he is survived by a mentally challenged brother and ageing parents.