A 12-year-old boy died and his friend was critically injured when they fell off a goods train they had boarded for a fun ride near Paraia railway station in Gaya.

The deceased, Azmat Taj, along with his friend Zeshan, 12, had boarded the goods train near his house at road number 5 in the New Karimganj area on Saturday evening. The railway division falls under the Gaya-Mughalsarai section of the East Central Railway.

The accident occurred when Azmat’s leg hit the edge of Paraia station platform. He fell off and was immediately run over by the same train. According to sources, the cabin man at the station noticed the accident and informed the driver. The cabin man said the driver applied the emergency brake, throwing off Zeshan who was still on the carriage.

Zeshan managed to narrate the incident to the people of Paraia village, around 12km from his house. The villagers brought Zeshan to his home. On the basis of information by Zeshan and the cabin man, Azmat’s body was later found and handed over to his family.

Zeshan said initially four of them were playing close to the train tracks at Karimganj. The goods train, which had left Gaya Junction, stopped close to where they were playing. Zeshan and Azmat had barely sat on the train when it suddenly started moving.

The boys waited for the train to stop or slow down. After about 30 minutes the train reached Paraia station, which is around 10km from their Karimganj home.

Azmat’s father, Mohammad Sajjad Shakeel, is an Urdu language translator posted in the Sherghati sub-divisional headquarters of the district.

“Azmat was our only son. We have three daughters. He had returned from school and had gone for tuition. Like everyday, he went out to play with his friends after returning from the tutorial,” Shakeel told The Telegraph on Sunday.

“It was only late on Saturday night that we learnt from Zeeshan about the accident. We cannot believe that Azmat is no more. The entire family is shocked over the incident. He was our youngest child,” the bereaved father added.

Zeshan is undergoing treatment at a private clinic and is still in a shock. “He is losing consciousness every now and then. He was very close to Azmat and cannot believe he is no more,” said a source, adding that he had suffered an injury in the head that could take a few more days to recover.

Zeeshan and Azmat have been friends and they were both students of Elegant Public School in Gaya town. Both study in Class VIII.

Government Rail Police Gaya in-charge Arvind Kumar Mishra told The Telegraph that the two friends — Azmat and Zeshan — boarded the goods train near their residence “just for fun”.

“After getting information that one of the boys was run over by the train, the police rushed to spot and recovered the body,” he said.

“We have handed over the body to the family after conducting a post-mortem report of the boy at Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital in the morning,” Mishra added.