Thiruvananthapuram: The harsh, crowded conditions to be endured in public commuting in India came to the fore in Kerala on Thursday when an ailing one-year-old girl child lost her life while being taken for treatment to the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.

The parents of one-year-old Mariam, identified as Shameer and Sumayya from Irikkur in Kannur district, were rushing her by the Maveli Express train to a specialist hospital in Thiruvananthapuram when they had to endure a particularly tortuous journey.

Mariam had a heart condition and had undergone a surgery at the Sree Chitra Tirunal hospital in Thiruvananthapuram two months ago.

This week, when she began running a fever and local doctors referred her back to Sree Chitra Tirunal hospital, the parents opted on a train journey to reach Thiruvananthapuram, nearly 500km from Kannur.

On Wednesday night when they reached the Kannur railway station, they could only get a general compartment ticket, and their best efforts to convert that into a reserved coach ticket failed, despite trying in as many as eight compartments.

Meanwhile, the cold night worsened the child’s condition.

At the end of their futile search for a seat failed, Sumayya travelled in the ladies compartment and Shameer got into the general compartment.

Close to midnight, however, the child’s condition worsened and when the train reached Kuttipuram, barely 150km from Kannur, co-passengers pulled the emergency chain to stop the train and rush the child to a hospital.

It was a group of medical students in the compartment who sensed that the child’s condition was serious and took the initiative to stop the train.

Mariam was rushed in an autorickshaw to a nearby hospital but doctors declared she had died a short while before.

The body was then taken to Irikkur by ambulance for final rites. Father Shameer, who works as a day labourer, and mother Sumayya have two other children.

Railway authorities, however, said they were not aware of anyone approaching any of the travelling ticket examiners for a seat. Shameer said he and Sumayya had pleaded with two ticket examiners to allot a seat to them.