Kerala Auto Rickshaw driver saves family from a drowning car

In India riding a bike or driving a car on road is a task in itself because it is full of surprises like cattles, dogs, jay walkers and even vehicles coming from the wrong side. All these reasons mentioned make driving more dangerous on Indian roads. Another problem is the mentality of people. Many people often ignore accident victims and refuse to help them because of various reasons.

In one such incident where a car with five passengers fell into a river an auto rickshaw driver became the saviour and brought everyone back to safety. The incident happened in Kerala’s Ponnani of Malappuram district where a car with five passengers including a class six student fell into Bharathappuzha river from Karma road.

Meanwhile, Vinod who is an auto rickshaw driver was coming right behind the car and saw the car and the people drowning. He without even thinking twice jumped into the river to help and rescued everyone and brought them back to land. The car belonged to Nawas who is a local and was travelling with his family. The moment the car fell into the river the occupants tried opening the doors and windows but, could not succeed as water gushed inside the car very fast. Timely intervention by the auto driver Vinod saved the lives of 5 people. The car got fully submerged in the river.

All the occupants of the car are safe and were admitted to the nearby government hospital and Vinod who got injured while rescuing the victims was also admitted to the same hospital. Karma road is a road that runs along the coast of river Bharathappuzha in Ponnani.

Now the major question. How did it happen?

• The main cause behind this dangerous accident is the absence of a safety railing on the river side of the road and this has been something that locals have been demanding the authorities to build for a very long time now.
• The road lies so close to the river that there have been cases when the water level rises in the river the road gets flooded. Once the roads are flooded it becomes impossible for anyone to differentiate between the road and river.
• The locals had even organised protests in the past for the same as accidents of similar kind have happened on various stretches of the road before.