A TU Delft student did a heroic deed on 18 January. He freed a woman from her car that had tumbled head over heels into the frozen canal in front of his house on the Kolk.
Still from the video.
The student’s housemates filmed the rescue and this short video is doing the rounds on WhatsApp. It shows how the student, apparently without a second thought, took off his sweater and jumped into the icy water. You can hear the people watching in the house saying ‘get a hammer’ while their housemate in the water shouts for a stone.
A sound recording is also being shared on WhatsApp. It is of the shocked student who relates in a group app what had happened. “It was just like a movie,” he starts. “I was on the first floor of the house and looked outside and saw a car tipping forwards, fast, and it landed in the canal. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I ran outside immediately and called everyone in the house to come outside too. I shouted ‘is anyone inside’ to the other side of the canal. I heard someone say ‘yes’.”
‘It was absolutely crazy’
“I took off my sweater, jumped into the canal and swam to the car. I saw a woman in the car, that was already half filled with water. She banged on her window when she saw me and screamed ‘help!’. I shouted out to the canal side ‘throw me a stone or something hard’. Then I hit the window with the stone, but it didn’t break. I then got a hammer and managed to break the window. I pulled the woman out and she was able to swim to the side. It was absolutely crazy.”
Regio15, a regional news broadcaster, reported that the woman reached the side unhurt. She was checked by ambulance staff, but did not need to go to hospital.
After a while the car disappeared under water. It was removed later.
Later that day, Mayor Marja van Bijsterveldt visited the heroic student. Delta has not yet been able to reach him for comment.
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