An Indian baby miraculously survived slipping down a train toilet and onto the railroad tracks, just moments after his mother delivered him in a train's bathroom.
A 22-year-old woman went to the train's bathroom after she started experiencing labor pains while traveling with her husband and mother from Suratgarh, about 32 miles southwest of Hanumangarh, on Monday, according to the Press Trust of India.
While the train was stopped about 8 miles from the Hanumangarh station, in the north-western state of Rajasthan, she delivered the baby in the toilet cubicle.
"The woman ... felt acute labor pain, so she went to the toilet to relieve herself and gave birth to a baby boy who slipped down through the toilet bowl and fell on the tracks," senior railway police official Subhash Vishnoi said.
As soon as she gave birth, the woman fainted inside the toilet cubicle while the baby immediately slipped down the pipe,
Like many Indian train toilets, both western-style and squat toilets with chutes, this one emptied directly onto the tracks, causing the baby to slide to the ground. After a couple of hours, a local guard spotted the newborn crying on the tracks and informed the police, who admitted the baby to a nearby hospital.
Shortly after the train left for Hanumangarh, the mother's family found her unconscious in the train's bathroom and immediately summoned for help, The Guardian reported.
"When the woman and her husband found their newborn alive and safe, they were very happy," another police official, Ram Singh, said. "They had not expected that the newborn would be alive."
Currently, both mother and child have been admitted to Hanumangarh town hospital. The child suffered no serious injuries but is under constant watch because he was born at less than 5 pounds, doctors said.
Meanwhile authorities did not release any names.
