Kargil war veteran saves 5 from drowning in Punjab's Sirhind canal

Harjinder Singh, 49, an ex-armyman and Kargil War veteran, and his two teenaged sons managed to save five persons from drowning whose SUV plunged into Sirhind canal between village Pvaat and Behlolpur village near

Machhiwara in Ludhiana on Monday night around 11:30pm.

One person did not survive in the accident after his body was fished out of the freezing cold water.

The veteran of 15 Punjab (Patiala), now re-employed in the security detail of Mukesh Ambani's Antilia, had come home on vacation. On Monday he, alongwith his two sons Gurleenpreet Singh, 18, and Harkirat Singh, 17, were returning after attending a marriage party in Bathinda when they saw a vehicle plunged in the Sirhind canal with six victims trapped inside the vehicle.

"I was sleeping in the backseat of my car when my sons who were driving the car stopped to see the vehicle sliding in the canal. After realising that six youths around 25 to years of age were struggling to get out of the vehicle. Me and my two sons were lucky to bail them out by the grace of God," the former commando said.

Harjinder alongwith his son rescued the persons by breaking open the window glasses. His sons took the help of a fallen tree to arrest the slide of vehicle further into the muddy water. The trio brought the victims to safety on the road head and called up the police. Three PCRs and an ambulance reached the spot after around one hour. One person was declared brought dead in the hospital.

Locals lauded the ex-armyman's courage and recounted that Harjinder had saved a 25-year-old girl who jumped into this canal a kilometre further away way back on August 25, 2008. Then too, he had held the drowning girl for around 500m in the muddy water and rescued her to the other bank of the canal.

What was Harjinder doing there? "I had gone to a liquor vend near the canal to have some quality time," he said.

Harjinder, who sustained shrapnel injuries in the Mala sector of Kargil and had to be medically boarded out after the war, was awarded by the state government for showing exemplary bravery in saving the life of a drowning girl.

Village residents said the former commando has helped many village children and youths learn swimming. "The canal is a part of our life, we cannot afford to stay away from it, so learning swimming is a step in knowing our surroundings and responding to such situations," he said.

On being asked what made him jump alongwith his two sons into the canal in the dead of the night to save the trapped victims, Harjinder said, "How can you see people drowning in front of eyes. God has given me the ability to help someone. I want my teenaged sons to be fearful of God and brave enough to come to the rescue of a persons in need."