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Girl escapes injury as train passes over her

40 Comments

A 2-year-7-month-old girl miraculously lived after she crawled on to the tracks and a train passed over her, just missing her, Sunday on the Yashiro Line in Suzaka City, Nagano Prefecture. According to police, when the girl saw the train drawing near her, she lay down in the space between the rails. The conductor saw the girl and attempted to stop the train, but couldn't do so before the train passed over her body.

The girl received only scratches to her forehead, and climbed out from beneath the train by herself after it stopped. The girl had come to the area to visit her grandfather, who lives nearby, and wandered off when her mother wasn't looking.

The incident occurred near a crossing gate about 200 meters before Suzaka station. The train had been traveling at about 40km/h.

© News reports

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40 Comments
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WTF is wrong with some Japanese parents?!?! It seems they're either killing their own children, or just neglecting them, so the kids end up killing themselves. This kid is lucky. I hope her mother learned her lesson.

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WTF is wrong with some Japanese parents?!?!

Something like this can happen anywhere. It's not specific to Japan.

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But child neglect happens in Japan a lot more than many other countries.

Moderator: Readers, never mind other countries. Please focus your comments on the topic.

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I dont think that Japan has a higher rate of neglect. I think in Japan it just gets reported more.

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OMG what a narrow escape. Lucky this time, hope there's no next time.

But where the hell were they standing for a simple wandering off while mother turned away incident to end up under a train? In some situations, like on a platform, waiting at a level crossing, it's understandable for a momentary lapse (of intelligence) to end up on the tracks, so where were they when mum stopped watching her child without holding onto her hand?

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An angel must've been watching over this girl.

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Nothing short of a miracle. Thank the Lord.

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Neglect is a form of abuse. Read another story posted here...Study group set up to deal with rise in child abuse. I'm not the only one that thinks this type of situation is happening all too frequently in Japan.

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The stupid mother will be insane over this for the rest of her days.

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That is one lucky little girl.

What makes this more common is say Japan over the UK is the accessibility of rail tracks - there is too often little or no barrier to prevent the public wandering onto the tracks

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I think it is too quick to determine if this were neglect or not. I dont know if the ppl commenting are actual parents or not but I think any parent who is not obsessively over protective can see how this could happen. With 2 year olds, you can just turn your back to pick up something & they can get into something. You can be watching them on the other side of the room and before you can get to them, they can get into something. You can quickly use the restroom & come out and they are in to something. They can wake up before you and get into something. This is the nature of a toddler. Of course parents need to be alert all the time and have things put up and away but you would be amazed at how clever 2 year olds are about getting into things. Anyway, this was a smart girl to duck down and stay down rather than panic and try to run. I cant imagine the horror the conductor must have felt when he couldn`t stop the train soon enough and passed over the child. That must have been horrible.

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"...wandered off when her mother wasn’t looking."

That's why kids under a certain age should be put on leashes. I've seen non-demeaning leashes that look like backpacks! Hey, the kids are too young to even realize they're on a leash and definitely too young to realize the world is dangerous.

At least the kid was smart enough to duck.

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Any adult with a child a half a brain usually has enough wits to keep an eye on their kid when a train is coming. See, trains usually make a lot of noise, and that "clang clang clang" thingy that goes off usually alerts people to danger.

That being said, just last week I saw two kids, unsupervised, about 8 and 5, playing near the tracks at a station out in inaka. They were smart enough to step back when the trains actually passed, but what surprised me was that not only did NONE of the adults seemed concerned that two kids were playing dangerously close to the tracks, but two elderly people kept waiving at them, which of course caused the kids to stop paying attention to the trains and wave back at the lonely old people, actually moving closer to the tracks so they could wave at them.

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Whew!

"At least the kid was smart enough to duck"

Exactly, exactly! Kudos to her! How many people can say they got run over by a train?

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Must be very scary experience! Luckiest girl in the world!

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Duck? More likely she fell over. Sheer good luck either way.

Why do some people object to other countries being brought into discussions on this site? The mod is just as bad. Surely by comparing similar occurrences from other countries we stand a good chance of finding out the pros and cons of these things in all countries being mentioned, for example the lengths the UK train companies are legally obliged to go to in order to prevent people wandering onto the tracks (as deepair65 mentions,) in comparison with whatever feeble efforts are made here. It certainly seems they can't even keep their own industrial machinery off the tracks here, so how can they expect to keep people off? But how many people in Japan would sue the train company for not preventing the death of a child (or adult) who wandered onto the tracks? Any? Probably not. No wonder the train companies don't care. Blame the pedestrians. That's their attitude.

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Laying down in the space between the rails, that's smart for a 2-1/2 yr old.

Going into the rails in the first place, not so smart.

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wandered off while her mother wasn't looking.

Still alive after being run over by a train. A true gift of life. Best taken to heart.

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An adventurer in the making! We need more people with those guts!

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As a mother of a toddler I can understand how easy it is to have your child run off as soon as you turn around... But then again, I am only ever likely to turn my back at the park or at home.. not at a train station!!! There's no excuse for that! I hope the mother has learned her lesson from this experience... and thank god the child is ok! I see mothers turning their backs quite often here. Just last week in Maebashi I was shocked to see a woman squatting down on the ground at an intersection using her cell phone while her toddler son was running around dangerously close to the road. Not even looking at him. Our children are the most precious and vulnerable in this world, yet some people manage to forget that and think they can care for themselves.

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^^^ lol incredible!

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Incredible presence of mind to react as the child did.

This is a news story because it is an unusual occurrence involving danger to a child. It is not representative of everyday life, not common, not typical and not something to cause people to curse, stereotype or criticize.

Let's continue to be diligent in our own lives and support that same diligence and care in others.

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What is wrong with these parents? Kids are very fast I know I have one you have to watch them at all times.

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This was a very small level crossing, and didn't have a barrier etc. I know how easy it is to lose sight of a toddler. But, I just don't understand how a parent let their child anywhere near a railway line without taking a firm grip of their hand. It's just common sense.

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The mother should be charged with child neglect/ child endangerment ( child abuse charges )

I seen this type of behavior in Japan and other countries as well.

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Wow that was close.. glad shes ok

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I don't want to immediately blame the mother or accuse her of child neglect as I am not a mother. But it seems like common sense to me to hold a small child's hand or at least have him/her very close to you at a train station. I am very happy to hear that this little girl is okay.

Instead of blue lights to prevent suicide, the train companies might want to consider installing some type of barrier so that adults and children are kept a safe distance away from the tracks.

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Didn't this exact same thing happen last year? Or did the child die? I can't remember.

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The term "Playing in the street" is only a phrase. But obviously not in Japan.

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Yes bad situation, but I'll cut the mom some slack, hopefully she learned her lesson and there could of been other reasons not noted in the news that her attention was focused away for the kid to run away fast and kids are fast.

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The Mother was not looking...you are lucky Mom, due to decreasing new born baby in Japan. The Japanese Mother should take extra care for their children.

However, I agree in some of the comments above that the Mother of this child should be charge with negligence and be given some punishment like giving public apology for her negligence of her child.

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Our children are the most precious

To most people. Not to some. Unfortunately. The sad fact is that to many, children are a mistake, a burden, a trick to secure a husband that didn't turn out so well...shoganai..

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Wow that is one lucky kid, I bet her mother keeps her on a leash from now on.

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I think it is too quick to determine if this were neglect or not. I'm all for not being over-protective, but I don't think it's too much to ask for a parent to be mindful where their toddler is at a train station. It's not like they were in shopping centre or restaurant. Trains don't stop on a dime and say excuse me, when they hit you, they usualy kill you.

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I think this little girl was very lucky, though she might be having night mares for the rest of her life, I know I would be.

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The kid saw the train coming and got down? This kid could be smarter than the average youth these days. I think she is gifted.

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I agree with many of the comments here - I AM a mum. I`ve raised two toddlers so far and another one to come. They are a nightmare and they do get into anything and everything the minute your back in turned - but I agree completely with what another poster said - I would barely turn my back for a second in the park, perhaps more so at home as it is as safe as I can make it but NEVER EVER near a railway line/road.

Toddlers are hard to handle, but I see carers here all the time with their backs to them. Just 3 days ago I had to run into a major road near our house to grab a 2 year old who had run out into 3 lanes of fast moving traffic - because the mother was walking along in front, oblivious to the kid and what she was doing. She thanked me and I SCREAMED at her for being so stupid (8 months pregnant, I scream at lampposts right now!) and THEN my husband screamed at ME for running out to rescue the child in the first place!

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inmost cases their mothers dont cares to look affert thier kids well.or pretend that they dont see the kid moving in a wrong direction.thanks god the baby is alife

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The kid saw the train coming and got down? This kid could be smarter than the average youth these days. I think she is gifted<

It is even more amazing than that. Had she not put her head down into the gap off the crossing, she would still have been killed. The train conductor should be commended for his quick reaction.

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A pretty smart kid. Glad that she's okay. The mother should be punished though. I've seen various parents (not in Japan) leaving their children to follow from behind all the time. This makes me wonder; what if someone just come along and grab the child from behind? I feel that most parents nowadays really do lack supervision skills.

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