r/interesting • u/Green____cat • Oct 04 '24

In 1976, Shavarsh Karapetyan, an Armenian Olympic swimmer, saves 20 people trapped in a bus that sank 80' offshore. It took him several hours to save them all, and he suffered injuries that put him in the hospital for 45 days—it ended his Olympic career. HISTORY

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u/Tea_master_666 Oct 04 '24

On September 16, 1976, Karapetyan was jogging alongside Yerevan Lake with his brother Kamo. Karapetyan had just completed his usual finswimming distance of 20 km (12 mi) when he heard the sound of a crash and saw a sinking trolleybus.

The trolleybus had lost control and fallen from a dam wall, laying at the bottom of the reservoir some 25 meters (80 ft) offshore at a depth of 10 meters (33 ft).Despite the challenging conditions of sewage-infested waters and poor visibility due to silt, Karapetyan courageously dived in and used his legs to kick open the back window of the trolleybus. He managed to rescue 46 out of the 92 passengers onboard, saving the lives of 20 individuals.

Yep, this guys is a superhero.

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u/IndependenceSad9300 Oct 04 '24

The non 46 died? Also the non 20 of the 46 died?

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u/HalfwrongWasTaken Oct 04 '24 edited Oct 04 '24

46 were pulled/escaped. 37 by Shavarsh, 9 escaping on their own through the window. Only 20 of those 46 survived.

He dove into the cold murky waters of Yerevan Lake some 40 times, going in and out through broken glass, forced to feel around for people in the dark. Each plunge took about 25 seconds. On his last dive, on the verge of fainting, he emerged clutching a seat cushion instead of a victim. “I had nightmares about that cushion for a long time. I could have saved someone else’s life,” Savarsh told Russia's Channel One.

Savarsh pulled 37 people out of the lake, and nine others escaped on their own through the broken window. The rescue operation was set up in a matter of minutes. Doctors who arrived from a nearby hospital treated the victims right on the shore. Unfortunately, only 20 of those Shavarsh rescued could be saved.

From one of the cited wiki sources (which conflicts a bit with the rest of the wiki's information...)

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u/lactoseadept Oct 04 '24

What a boss