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The Centrum® Guardian Stories
Thulisile Nkosi
DAVID AND GOLIATH WATER RESCUE
Thulisile Nkosi, Fire Fighter, Leon Ferreira Fire Station, Boksburg, jumped into a dam to pull a drowning man from a vehicle.
15 February 2010. It was six in the morning and Thulisile Nkosi, a Fire Fighter and Basic Life Support medic at the Leon Ferreira Fire Station in Boksburg was at the end of her shift and suffering from a debilitating headache. She asked permission to leave the station early to get medication from the pharmacy.
On her way there, she was driving towards a well-known intersection in Boksburg when she saw a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction suddenly veer into oncoming traffic. The vehicle cut across the pavement and crashed over an embankment. Thuli pulled over and quickly ran up the steep embankment to assess the situation.
Down below, she saw that the vehicle had overturned and was lying on its roof in a dam. She could only see the tips of the vehicle’s wheels jutting out above the surface. Even though Thuli can’t swim, she estimated the water to be only chest deep and without a moment’s hesitation, jumped into the dam to save the driver from drowning. Submersing herself in the murky water, Thuli saw a man’s hand appear through the window. Small of stature as she is, she went underwater, and pulled the driver – who turned out to be twice her size – through the vehicle’s window. Her patient was conscious but confused about what had happened.
With the help of a bystander, Thuli managed to move the man onto dry land where she assessed and treated him. She called for backup and waited by his side until the ambulance arrived. The man was transferred to a nearby hospital where it was later discovered that he suffers from a condition that causes him to spontaneously lose consciousness. Something he was completely unaware of until the day of the accident.
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