5 Lifesaving Heroes From Around The World

We tend to think of heroes as wearing capes and hurtling through the sky, but real heroes are all around
us, wearing everyday clothes and working mundane jobs like the rest of us. We honor police, firefighters,
and soldiers all the time in parades and holidays, but there are so many other heroes—good Samaritans in
the right place at the right time who reach inside themselves and act selflessly.

5 Hideaki Akaiwa - Japan

Japan’s 2011 Tohoku earthquake was the most powerful known earthquake in the country’s history, so
powerful that it moved Honshu, Japan’s largest island, 2.4 meters (eight feet) to the east and shifted the
Earth’s axis. The earthquake and the resultant tsunami were responsible for well over 15,000 deaths, a
number that would have been far higher if it hadn’t been for the quick, selfless actions of heroes all over
the nation. When towering waves flattened the city of Ishinomaki, 43-year-old Hideaki Akaiwa thought he
might have lost his family forever. But the surfer threw on some scuba gear and plunged into the dark
waters in search of his house. He descended into what could only have been an undersea nightmare—icy
waters choked with corpses, broken glass, and live wires, and riptides that could drag him out
into the ocean or crush him against submerged buildings. Against all hope, he reached his home beneath the
water. He found his wife on an upper level, gasping on the last bit of air trapped inside. Akaiwa’s mother
was still missing, and he continued to search for her, eventually finding her days later on the second floor of
a flooded house. Even with his family safe, he continued to help, setting out on a bicycle to search for
survivors for a week after the tsunami laid ruin to his city. Although he received a great deal of media
attention for his heroism, Hideaki was reticent about his role, telling reporters through a translator that he
went on his desperate search for his wife because “She is very important for me.”

4 Bishnu Shrestha – India

The Gurkhas are soldiers from India and Nepal who have proven over hundreds of years to be warriors of
seemingly limitless courage. They are well known for carrying the kukri, a large, oddly curved fighting knife.
In September 2010, Bishnu Shrestha was on a train after his Gurkha retirement ceremony. He was on the
way to Gorakhpur, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India, when the train was besieged by a gang of 15–40 armed
thugs who began robbing the passengers.
Shrestha was prepared to surrender his valuables, until they grabbed the 18-year-old girl who was sitting
beside him, with the intent of raping her. Bishnu leaped into action, attacking the men with his kukri. After
some 10 minutes of vicious fighting, the robbers fled. They left behind their haul as well as three of their
dead and eight more too grievously injured by Shrestha’s blade to escape. Bishnu suffered a wound on his
left hand that took two months to heal. Grateful to the veteran soldier for saving the girl, her family
offered him a large cash reward, which he declined. He said, “Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a
soldier. Taking on the thugs on the train was my duty as a human being.”

3 Fiona Bainbridge And Anita Smith - United Kingdom

Most heroes are celebrated for their efforts, but the world can be a bizarre place—when bus terminal
employees Fiona Bainbridge and Anita Smith leaped into action, they were insulted and abused by the
people around them. In October 2012, a terrified woman approached janitor Bainbridge as she cleaned the
bus terminal in Rotherham, England. The woman explained that her five-week-old baby had stopped
breathing. Fiona and her colleague Anita Smith rushed over to the baby, which was blue and limp. The
women administered CPR to the infant as a crowd gathered, hurling insults and claiming they were using
the wrong technique. But something must have worked—just before the paramedics arrived on the scene,
the lifeless tot began to breathe again. Later, Anita, a mother herself, would say, “I’ll never forget that
baby’s face smiling up at me for as long as I live.”

2 Ramona Gibbs - United Kingdom

In 2011, six-year-old Ramona Gibbs and her little sister Trixie were playing on the sidewalk outside their
home in Bristol, England, when a car mounted the curb and hurtled toward them. The car’s 94-year-old
driver had mistakenly stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. Ramona selflessly pushed Trixie
aside and took the full impact. The car crushed her tiny body against a parked Land Rover. She suffered a
laundry list of injuries, including a broken leg and rib, damaged liver and lung, a bruised pelvis, a smashed
knee, and internal bleeding. Ramona stayed in the hospital for 16 days and required five surgeries. Doctors
asserted that had three-year-old Trixie been hit, the smaller child would have undoubtedly been killed.

1 Muelmar Magallanes - Philippines

The Philippines are well-versed in storms—monstrous tropical cyclones called typhoons sweep over the
island nation several times a year. But 2009’s Typhoon Ketsana was an altogether different beast, one of
the most devastating storms in the country’s history, dumping record amounts of rain. Soon, the streets of
Manila raged with floodwaters. As neighbors were swept away, 18-year-old construction worker Muelmar
Magallanes leaped to their aid. He plunged into the the water again and again, saving more than 30 lives.
At last, he spotted Menchie Penalosa and her six-month-old daughter clutching a styrofoam box as the
torrent carried them away. Muelmar swam after them, eventually dragging them to safety. But the teen
was exhausted by his superhuman efforts, and moments after rescuing Penalosa and her baby, Magallanes
submerged beneath the water and was gone. The young hero’s corpse was found the next day, several
miles away. When Menchie Penalosa went to pay her respects beside Muelmar’s coffin, she said, “He gave
his life for me and my baby and I’ll never forget his sacrifice. I’ll be grateful to him for the rest of my life.”

Source: Monday, 12 October, 2015 11:35 AM10 Lifesaving Heroes From Around The World – Li...
http://listverse.com/2013/09/09/10-lifesaving-hero...

Points: They are ordinary people living ordinary lives and working ordinary jobs yet they choos to do their
task extraordinarily well. We too can go beyond the extra mile, go beyond our own comfort zone to be
someone extraordinary for our countrymen.

Point of Sharing: How can you go beyond the extra mile to help your countrymen in need?