LUDHIANA: A Sikh man has saved the lives of a woman and her daughter when the car they were travelling in fell into the Sidhwan Canal in Ludhiana on Saturday morning.

Geetu Malhotra, a resident of Victoria Enclave in South City, and her seven-year-old daughter, Sumaria, were heading to a parent-teacher meeting at Sat Paul Mittal School when the accident took place near Badewal Bridge.

A tyre of the vehicle reportedly burst causing the vehicle to swerve out of control. The vehicle disembarked from the road and flew over the side railing, falling into the canal.

After the car fell into the canal, Geetu removed her seat belt, rolled down the power window, and then turned off the cars engine.

A Sikh man, who could not be identified at the time of this report, opened his Dastar (turban) and used it as a rope to pull out the mother-daughter duo from the car.

Sameer Verma, a relative of the victims stated:

“He threw one end of the turban at Geetu, and she got hold of Sumaira and they both came out safe” 

The irrigation department had stopped releasing water into the canal two days ago and the water’s level was not too high. Because of this, the vehicle was not swept away in the water current.

The car was later fished out of the canal with the help of a crane. As cops were informed about the accident, a team from Raghunath police post reached the spot.