A major rail mishap was averted near Ezhukon by two students who frantically waved their red bags and stopped a train after noticing that the rail tracks were broken.
Anijit, 17, an ITI student, and his friend, Nithin, 15, who studies at a technical school, were chatting and walking along the railway track at around 10.45 am on Tuesday when they noticed a breakage in the tracks in the stretch between Ezhukon railway station and a local school.
Meanwhile, a passenger train that was chugging from Punalur to Kollam was fast nearing the Ezhukon station for a brief stop.
The two teens immediately alerted contract railway workers idling nearby. One of the workers telephoned the Ezhukon station master and informed him of the gap in the tracks.
However, the train had started off from the railway station by that time. Though the station master hurriedly tried to contact the loco-pilot using the walkie talkie, he could not get through.
This created panic. The contract workers, meanwhile, collected the twigs and grass lying nearby and started a fire near the tracks.