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Friendship forged after rescue at Dubai Creek

The incident has sowed the seeds of a friendship.

After he was discharged from Rashid Hospital where he was admitted following the accident, Baiju lost no time in calling up Yousuf to express his gratitude.

"I am an accountant working with Al Ghazal Electronics, Deira. Last Sunday, I went to Bur Dubai to collect a cheque. On the way back to Deira, I decided to commute on the abra. While we were half way through, I heard someone shouting that a dhow was coming closer and might hit the boat. But before I could do anything to save myself from falling down, the dhow had hit exactly on the side where I was sitting. With the impact, I fell into the creek water. I found myself drowning because of my inability to swim,” recounted Hanif.

While everybody on the boat tried to save themselves from falling into the water, Yousuf stood up and threw a rope which was on the boat. "I tried to hold it and climb on to the abra. But Yousuf had lost his balance and couldn't pull the rope resulting in my falling back into the creek water and gasping for breath. I was again drowning in the water and I thought I was going to die. But Yousuf took another rope which was used for anchoring the boat and threw it towards me.

''This time, fortunately, I managed to hold on to it and he slowly pulled me up out and helped me get back onto the abra," he said.

Hanif recalled that when he was pulled out safely onto the abra, the good Samaritan who saved his life handed him his mobile phone to call up his family.

"I called a relative who came and rushed me to Rashid Hospital. I was discharged from the hospital the same evening and the first thing I did was to call Yousuf and express my gratitude for saving my life."

"We met next morning and had coffee together. We became good friends and now we call each other everyday and meet whenever possible. We feel like we have been friends for a long time now," he said.

When Khaleej Times asked about the incident, Yousuf said he feels happy to have saved the life of Hanif and made a new friend. "I was on my way back home at about 10.30 in the morning after work. When the dhow came close to our abra, I alerted everybody. But it collided hard with our boat and Hanif fell into water.

''I saw him crying for help and gasping for breath. I immediately threw a rope which was lying on the abra.

''Unfortunately, I lost my balance and the rope fell into the water from my hand. Then I took another rope used to anchor the boat and threw it towards him. This time I managed to pull him out," he said.

"Well, I don't feel that I have done anything special but it feels good to have saved a human life," said Yousuf, adding, "I felt good that Hanif called me to express his gratitude."

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