Delft student Max Pelsma (23) was honoured with the Erepenning voor Menslievend Hulpbetoon (English: medal for humanitarian assistance) at the town hall in Delft on Tuesday. He was presented with the medal by mayor Marja van Bijsterveldt for rescuing a woman from the water earlier this year.
On 18 January, the student saw a car land in the icy canal from his student room at the Kolk. Without hesitation, he sprinted outside, took off his jumper and dived into the canal. With a hammer provided by his housemates, he smashed the car window, after which he was able to pull the woman in it out of the vehicle.
In a voice recording that circulated on Whatsapp Pelsma recounted his heroic act. ‘It was like a movie […] I looked outside and across the canal I saw a car just tipping over […] I didn’t believe my eyes.’ A video shot by his housemates circulated on the same medium, showing the student jumping into the canal without hesitation. The woman in the car was unharmed.
Van Bijsterveldt is proud that the student is a resident of her city, according to the press release from the Municipality of Delft. ‘Max, what you did is quite extraordinary and brave’.
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