Generous Australians have raised nearly $140,000 for the wife who lost her husband and one of their young twin daughters in a horrific train tragedy.
Anand Runwal, 40, died with his two-year-old daughter Hinal after they were hit by a train as he desperately tried to save the twins when their pram rolled onto the train tracks at Carlton station in Sydney’s south.
Her other daughter, Hiya, miraculously escaped and was rescued almost unharmed from under the train.
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed that heartbroken mother Poonam Runwal, 39, flew home to India to be with her extended family and bury her husband and daughter in a traditional ceremony in her childhood hometown of Bijapur.
The tragedy prompted one of 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 flooded with generous Australians who raised $139,031 in a matter of days before the fundraiser closed.
“They initially wanted to raise $20,000 to help her with her immediate expenses but were overwhelmed by the response and generosity of people,” said Nadeen Ahmed, who runs the Facebook group Indians in Sydney.
Anand Runwal (right) and his wife Poonam Runwal with their two-year-old twin daughters
Hinal Runwal (left) died tragically in the disaster while her twin Hiya miraculously survived.
‘They ended up raising almost $140,000 in just a couple of days, something they never expected.
‘They raised so much that they decided to close the fundraiser and that money has now been transferred in full to Ms Runwal.
“It’s a very difficult situation for her, she doesn’t know what to do. She is returning to India to be with her family because it will take her months and months to get over this tragedy.”
Mr Ahmed said the family was extremely concerned that unscrupulous internet scammers would take advantage of the tragedy, and made it clear that the GoFundMe page was the only one they had given consent to.
The Runwals were on a family outing and had just arrived at the station platform when the twin daughters’ stroller rolled onto the train tracks.
Mr Runwal heroically jumped onto the tracks in an attempt to lift the pram and place it back on 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 overturn and said it could have been something as simple as a “gust of wind”.
New South Wales Police Superintendent Paul Dunstan said the parents apparently took their hands off the pram for “a very brief period” as it rolled onto the tracks.
Superintendent Dunstan said police were investigating what caused the pram to overturn 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 much-loved members of their local Kogarah community since moving south from Sydney in October.
Extended family members, including Ms Runwal’s sister and brother-in-law, flew to Australia from India this week to support the widow, who is now abandoning her family’s dream of a new life in Australia.
Ms Runwal is understood to be returning to Bangalore, India, after the funerals of her husband and daughter to be close to her family as she tries to restart her life.
“It’s been a tragedy and there are so many sad memories here for Poonam that she won’t be able to return,” a family friend said.
It is understood Ms Runwal will return to Bangalore, India, following the funerals of her husband and daughter to be close to her 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 company in North Sydney, with Ms Runwal and the girls listed as dependents on his skilled worker visa.
His visa was due to expire next week and he was in the process of renewing it. His wife’s visa was dependent on him being allowed to stay in Australia and there were fears she could be deported from the country.
Shortly after the tragedy, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backed calls for the family to be allowed to remain in Australia and urged his Home Affairs Minister to treat Ms Runwal with generosity and compassion.
“It’s obviously a decision for the Minister, but in my view, matters like this need to be dealt with with the compassion that Australians expect,” Albanese said.
“This mother has watched her husband and one of her twin sons tragically lose their lives and I would have thought that we are a generous country and that Australians’ hearts would go out to this woman and her little boy.”
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, who lives 100 metres from the station, said the father died while carrying out an “extraordinary and instinctive act of bravery”.
“He gave his own life to try to save his children,” he said.