Subhan Khan is an ordinary JCB driver but he showed extraordinary courage in saving nine lives from a near-certain death, that was trying to reach them in the form of the swirling waters of Munneru.
Published Sep 03, 2024 | 7:42 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 03, 2024 | 7:42 PM
People stranded on the bridge. Subhan Khan being felicitated. (Screengrab)
It is always said gods are those who go out of their way to save the lives of others. For nine people from Khammam district in Telangana, it was a JCB driver who saved them from the fury of the Munneru river following the heavy rains that ravaged the Telugu states on Sunday, 1 September.
Subhan Khan is an ordinary JCB driver but he showed extraordinary courage in saving nine lives from a near-certain death, that was trying to reach them in the form of the swirling waters of Munneru.
They were crying for help stranded on the Prakash Nagar Bridge as Khan was passing by the bridge while rain was hammering Khammam. The river was already overflowing the bridge, with menacing force.
As Khan was close to the Prakash Nagar Bridge, the local people stopped him and asked him to rescue the group stranded on the bridge.
He did not think twice when he visualised the predicament the group was in. He came to know that they had been there on the bridge since afternoon. It was already late in the evening. But it did not daunt him.
Before he set out on his perilous journey, he had said that he would make an attempt to rescue the stranded people. “If I fail in my attempt, it is my life only. If I succeed, I would be saving nine lives,” he was quoted as saying.
He turned his JCB to the bridge and slowly and carefully moved forward. He reached them as they stood on the bridge, frightened of the river as it was overflowing the bridge and was threatening to drown them any time.
When the JCB reached the group of people, Khan probably appeared like an angel from the sky to rescue them. He stopped his vehicle where they were standing and helped them one by one into the cabin and around it. He then, slowly and carefully, returned even as the gushing waters swept past his vehicle.
A huge crowd collected at the end of the bridge, waiting with bated breath whether Khan would finally make it all. Equally parlaysed with fear were the nine people whom he helped into his JCB. As the JCB kept closing the distance metre by metre, the hopes of surviving the ordeal soared among the victims.
Finally, the JCB reached the shore and the crowd waiting there cheered Khan for his heroic effect. As the vehicle kept coming closer, they erupted in celebration of his indomitable spirit. Khan, an ordinary individual, did something the mighty government and the Indian Navy could not do.
The group was stranded in the middle of the bridge since Sunday afternoon. They had thought they would be able to cross the bridge, but the water rose menacingly.
Water kept overflowing the bridge at several places. However, they found a place where the water had not reached and waited for help from the skies.
They shot a video of themselves and posted it on social media with a request to the government to help them. The drone cameras captured them looking anxiously for the elusive helicopter to rescue them or the NDRF teams to reach them in power boats but nothing of the sort happened.
Meanwhile, the dusk began settling down and they were worried about how they could spend the entire night with the roar of the river below scaring the daylights out of them and the prospect of any help reaching them becoming dimmer.
It was at that time that the unexpected happened. They could see the JCB with powerful lights approaching them. It was already late in the night. As the beam of the JCB’s light stabbed through the darkness and reached them, they knew that they might after all be able to survive the ordeal.
Earlier in the day, the government sounded an SOS to the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam to send a helicopter to airlift the group. But by the time the Navy got a helicopter ready, it was already dark, making rescue operations tricky.
Apart from that, the weather was nasty. It was still raining, and the gusty winds were blowing across. The Navy finally said it would not be able to help them. The government left them to their fate as it had no way of reaching them. It was then the angel descended from heaven disguised as Khan.
Khan’s daughter was heard in a video that went viral saying that her father is a real hero. “I am shivering as it is very cold. But my dad has rescued all of them,” she was heard saying in the video.
BRS Working President KT Rama Rao, who is abroad, congratulated Khan for risking his life to save the people.
“It just isn’t just about lot of guts, you need a heart to be a true hero. You, my brother Subhan Khan have saved so many families from a life long pain by helping these nine people. When the Govt themselves were thinking if and how they should get a helicopter to rescue, you walked into danger and saved them all. Salute to your big heart and an amazing grit! Will surely meet you once I am back. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he wrote.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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