After his wheelchair tumbled off a railway station onto the tracks, an elderly man has pleaded for assistance in locating the heroic commuters who saved him.
Gary Stapleton, 62, and his wife Sue were left powerless in early April after Mr Stapleton’s frightening fall nearly wrecked a trip to view the ducks at Moonee Ponds in Melbourne.
The pair, who are both wheelchair-bound due to a degenerative ailment, were reportedly preoccupied by the loss of their grandson earlier that week, according to Nine News.
Mr Stapleton, however, lost control of his motorized wheelchair as he neared the Jacana station platform and drove off the platform onto the train tracks below.
‘I just screamed, ‘help, help’, I didn’t know what else to do,’ Mrs Stapleton said.
Two men ran over, jumped down to where Mr Stapleton lay and began lifting him off the track, helped by a third man who pulled the pensioner onto the platform.
Five additional commuters stepped onto the track, aware that a train may arrive at any moment, to assist in lifting Mr Stapleton’s wheelchair back onto the station.
Thankfully, Mr. Stapleton was unharmed in the fall, and the pair was able to continue their journey.
Mrs Stapleton, on the other hand, said the event served as another warning to commuters to be cautious around wheelchairs.
‘Train stations are not designed to accommodate wheelchairs. You have to be quite cautious while passing by the seats since there isn’t much room on the platform,’ she explained.
The couple’s family want to track down and thank the commuters who assisted in Mr. Stapleton’s rescue.
Metro Trains Melbourne has also expressed gratitude to commuters for assisting Mr Stapleton, stating that trains in the region were momentarily halted after CCTV footage of the elderly man’s fall was captured.