Tenkasi (Tamil Nadu):An elderly couple's courage helped in averting derailment of a train, travelling between Tirunelveli towards Palakkad, as they alerted the loco pilot by flashing a torchlight on Sunday midnight in Tamil Nadu's Tenkasi. Finally, they caught the attention of the driver, who applied brakes and halted the empty rake.
Earlier, a truck carrying plywood from Kerala to Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi, lost control near the S Velavu area on the inter-state border and overturned before falling onto the adjoining railway track.
Moments after the accident, a train from Tirunelveli to Palakkad in Kerala was travelling on the same track. Shanmugaiah and his wife Kurunthammal, residents of Puliyarai area were woken up from their sleep by the sound of the train. Without a second thought, they rushed to the scene. Flashing a torchlight, they ran on the railway track towards the approaching train. The train halted some metres away.