Bhubaneswar, July 12: A 40-year-old man died and his 10-year-old son lost both his legs early this morning after a speeding goods train hit them at platform No. 1 of Bhubane-swar railway station. Government Railway Police (GRP) officials said the father-son duo were attempting suicide.

The police rushed them to hospital where the father was declared brought dead. The boy, Karunakar Gouda, who was rescued in an unconscious state, is undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after Capital Hospital doctors referred him there. Karunakar’s father was identified as Puskar Gouda and they hailed from Jagannath Prasad village in Ganjam district.

The inspector in-charge of GRP station, Bhubaneswar, Smruti Ranjan Kar said Puskar was carrying his son when he jumped in front of a goods train coming from Guwahati. “They had come from Ganjam and were waiting in the rest room. Around 3am, the father lifted up his son and tried jump onto the railway tracks in an attempt to commit suicide. After we heard about the incident, our officials rushed them to the hospital, where the father was declared brought dead and the unconscious son was later sent to SCB,” Kar said. He added that the father-son duo had left their house following a quarrel with their family members in Ganjam.

However, passengers and hawkers at the station said the railway police and GRP officials could have saved the father’s life had they rushed him to the hospital immediately.

Lack of ambulance facilities at one of the busiest railway stations in the state puts the life of accident victims in danger and many a times, victims bleed to death for lack of timely treatment.

“We have witnessed the helplessness of the railway police and GRP officials in providing speedy medical services to accident victims here, as they have to wait for the ambulance to come from other places to ferry them to hospitals. Sometimes, the delay causes death,” said Narayan Sahu, a hawker at the railway station.

On July 10, a 45-year-old man was found lying on platform No. IV with severe injuries. However, the officials could not provide him medical aid immediately and he died by the time he was taken to the Capital Hospital.

On July 1, a 50-year-old man died after falling off the Dibrugarh-Yashwantpur Express at platform No. IV. It was alleged that the man was rushed to hospital quite late, as the railway police could not arrange for an ambulance for quite some time.

Inspector in-charge of the Railway Protection Force, Bhubaneswar, Varun Behera said an ambulance was urgently required at the Bhubaneswar railway station to rush accident victims to hospitals immediately.

“At present, the Bhubaneswar railway station does not have any facilities to provide victims first-aid. If one ambulance is provided it would be of immense help to the public,” Behera said. Station master A.K. Malia said he would take up the matter with the higher authorities.