Fernando Balbuena-Flores Bronx father jumps to his NYC subway suicide while holding five year old daughter who miraculously survives as questions are asked, why?
The daughter of a suicidal Bronx man has survived after her father allegedly jumped in front of a NYC subway train Monday morning while holding on to his five year old daughter.
Police said the man, identified as Fernando Balbuena-Flores, 45, jumped in front of an oncoming Manhattan-bound No. 4 train at the Kingsbridge Road station in the Bronx circa 8am, Monday morning.
WTVR reported the man ‘instantly’ killed while the young girl was for the most part unscathed as she lay underneath the train.
Of note, the nydailynews reported the father calling his wife on the phone before making the fatal leap, citing a police source official.
‘Goodbye,’ Fernando Balbuena said, according to the source. ‘Take care of the kids.’’
Balbuena also had two sons.
‘Thank God and the angels who watched over her.’
Video taken from the opposing platform showed two men lifting the girl, dressed in a bright blue vest and still wearing her pink backpack, out from under the train.
A crowd of commuters standing on the platform, some covering their mouths, can be seen rushing to help the little girl.
‘The only thing she was saying was ‘Papa, my papa,’’ 32-year-old Antonio Love, one of the men who jumped down to the tracks, told the New York Times.
Balbuena-Flores, was pronounced dead at the scene. The girl, who has not been identified, suffered minor injuries.
‘I’m a mom and this devastated me like crazy,’ one woman told WPIX. ‘I’m absolutely just so thankful that she’s alright.’
A photo shows the girl alert and seemingly crying while being held by a fire official at the scene.
Officials said they did not know why Balbuena-Flores may have jumped. The train’s operator, a 20-year veteran, was treated for trauma.
The nypost cited the five year old’s mother, Niurka Caraballo saying she was grateful her daughter surviving the ordeal.
‘She’s Ok. Thank God,’ the mother said before bursting into tears.
‘The girl is in perfect condition,’ the mother told awaiting reporters late Monday outside the Bronx home she shared with the girl’s father. ‘Thank God and the angels who watched over her. Everything is O.K., except that now I’m without my husband.’
The mother of the 5-year-old girl who survived the subway incident speaks out. The God father of her children translates. They’re thankful for everyone who stepped in to help. @News12BX #bronx #nyc #subway #4train pic.twitter.com/INwtYr9DlW
— Michelle Arezou Ross (@MRossNews) September 23, 2019
‘He’s not a bad person.’
Anthony Woods, the assistant superintendent at the building where Mr. Balbuena-Flores lived, said he was stunned to hear about the death. He recalled Mr. Balbuena-Flores as a good father who would take his daughter to the park three times a day.
‘He is not a bad person,’ Niurka Caraballo said in Spanish as she left Jacobi Medical Center Monday afternoon with her miracle daughter referencing the girl’s father.
‘I don’t know what was going through his mind in that moment, but he’s not like that. He loved this little girl,’ the mother told press corps.
As of July 22, at least 32 people this year had been killed after being hit by trains, the transit authority said. Over all, trains hit 103 people who were on either tracks or platforms in that period.
Last year, 68 people died as a result of being hit by trains, and there were 189 total collisions, the authority said.
