Kind-hearted Aussies raised nearly $140,000 for the wife who lost her husband and one of her young twin girls in a horror train tragedy.
Anand Runwal, 40, died with his two-year-old daughter Hinal after they were struck by a train as he desperately tried to save the twins when their stroller rolled onto the train tracks at Carlton station in Sydney’s south.
His other daughter, Hiya, miraculously escaped and was pulled almost unscathed from under the train.
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed that heartbroken mum Poonam Runwal, 39, flew home to India to be with her extended family and to bury her husband and daughter in a traditional ceremony in his childhood hometown of Bijapur.
The tragedy spurred one of Mr Runwal’s former colleagues to set up a GoFundMe page, with the consent of his widow, to raise $20,000 to help with immediate expenses.
But the page was deluged with generous Australians who raised $139,031 in a matter of days before the fundraiser was closed down.
‘They initially wanted to raise $20,000 to help her with her immediate expenses but they were overwhelmed by the response and people’s generosity,’ Nadeen Ahmed, who runs the Indians in Sydney Facebook group, said.
Anand Runwal (right) and wife Poonam Runwal with their two-year-old twin daughters
Hinal Runwal (left) was tragically killed in the disaster while twin Hiya miraculously survived
‘They ended up raising almost $140,000 in just a couple of days, which they never expected.
‘They raised so much they decided to close the fundraiser and that money has now all been transferred to Mrs Runwal.
‘It’s a very hard situation for her, knowing what to do. She’s heading back to India to be with family because it is going to take months and months for her to deal with this tragedy.’
Mr Ahmed said the family were extremely worried that unscrupulous internet scammers would seize on the tragedy, and they made clear that the GoFundMe page was the only one they had consented to.
The Runwals had been on a family outing and just arrived on the station platform when the twin daughters’ pram rolled onto the train tracks.
Mr Runwal heroically leapt onto the tracks in a bid to lift their pram back onto the platform when he and Hinal were killed by the passing train.
NSW Police Superintendent Paul Dunstan said police were investigating what caused the pram to roll and said it could have been something as simple as a ‘gust of wind’
NSW Police Superintendent Paul Dunstan said the parents appeared to have taken their hands off the pram for a ‘very short period of time’ when it rolled towards the tracks.
Supt Dunstan said police were investigating what caused the pram to roll and said it could have been something as simple as a ‘gust of wind’.
The Runwals, who had been together for 14 years, had become well-liked members of their local Kogarah community since moving to Sydney’s south in October.
Extended family members, including Ms Runwal’s sister and brother-in-law, flew into Australia from India this week to support the widow, who is now abandoning her family’s dream of a new life in Australia.
It is understood Ms Runwal will return to Bangalore, India, in the wake of her husband and daughter’s funerals to be close to family as she tries to restart her life.
‘This is been such a tragedy and there are now so many sad memories here for Poonam, she won’t be able to come back,’ a family friend said.
It is understood Ms Runwal will return to Bangalore, India, in the wake of her husband and daughter’s funerals to be close to family as she tries to restart her life
Emergency services and police inspect the scene of the train tragedy in Sydney’s south
The family moved to Sydney from India in October 2023 after Mr Runwal secured a job at an IT firm in North Sydney, with Ms Runwal and the girls listed as dependants on his skilled workers visa.
His visa was due to expire next week and he was in the process of having it renewed. His wife’s visa was reliant on him receiving permission to stay on in Australia and there were fears she would face being kicked out of the country.
Shortly after the tragedy, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backed calls for the family to be allowed to stay in Australia, and urged his Home Affairs Minister to treat Ms Runwal with generosity and compassion.
‘It is a decision, obviously, for the Minister, but it’s my view that matters like this should be dealt with the compassion that Australians would expect,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘This mother has watched as her husband and one of her twin children has tragically lost their life and I would have thought that we’re a generous country and that Australians’ hearts will go out towards this woman and her young child.’
NSW premier Chris Minns, who lives within 100m of the station, has said the father died while performing an ‘extraordinary, instinctual act of bravery’.
‘He gave his own life to try and save his children,’ he said.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk