The death toll in the accident in Greater Noida could have been even higher had a policeman not jumped into the chilling water of the canal in which a car plunged into and rescued five occupants around midnight.
Around 20 people from a joint family were on their way from Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi in two cars to attend a house warming ceremony on Monday morning when midway one of the vehicles plunged into the Kherli canal in Dankaur area apparently due to low visibility, according to the police.
Six people died in the accident, while five other passengers survived the crash due to the timely intervention of Rajneesh Chaudhary, the pilot of the police response vehicle (PRV) 1875, who responded in the nick of time.
Chaudhary, along with his unit personnel, was among the first responders to the emergency call around 11 pm, officials said.
"Chaudhary had jumped into the freezing cold waters of the canal without wasting a moment and was able to pull some of them out while other resources (the JCB and ropes) were being mobilised. All 11 people who were stuck in the car that fell into the canal were taken to a hospital, where five of them survived the situation," Senior Superintendent of Police, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Vaibhav Krishna said.
Besides Chaudhary, the PRV personnel included its commander head constable Kiranpal Singh, head constable Arun Tyagi and sub-commander Arun Tyagi, the officer said.
Later on Monday, Krishna, the district police chief, awarded citations to the PRV personnel and a cash reward to Chaudhary for the team's effort.
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