20-06-2025
‘Wish I could have saved the others too': Security guard who pulled out lone survivor from burning car that killed 5
When Ajeet Chaudhary and his cousin Bhura left their homes in Bulandshahr for Noida on a motorcycle on Wednesday around 4.45 am, they were expecting a normal drive to work. Ajeet had recently celebrated his 28th birthday, and the duo was soaking in the pleasant memories.
Minutes later, however, they saw a burning car. '… it was in flames. There were other people on the road, too, but no one stopped,' recalled Ajeet.
They spotted the burning white Maruti Swift after they stopped at a petrol pump and then drove towards a roundabout near Anupshahr. 'I told Bhura that we should go and check if someone was inside, and he agreed. We parked our bike a few meters away,' recalled Ajeet.
What he did next was an act of courage that saved a life.
'A woman in the back seat was hitting the car's window with both her hands. I tried to open the door but failed. The car had already burned partially. I started looking for a stone around, picked up one from the road, and hit the window pane with all my might. The door opened,' he recounted.
Two people sitting in the front of the car had already died, he said.
'The woman could not move, and I could not pick her up. The intensity of the blaze was increasing. I managed to drag her a few meters away from the car, and I rushed back. I could hear a baby's cry, and the man who was sitting next to her was alive. He was moving, so I gave him my hand, but he couldn't take it. Then he suddenly moved back… maybe he was trying to save the child. I called out, but he didn't move. I could hear Bhura call for help. I came back to the woman,' he said.
He dialled 112 twice to reach the police but could not. 'Then I rang up my brother, Yatendra, asking him to inform the police about the fire. Police reached 20 minutes later,' he said.
The car had six family members, including a two-year-old. It had caught fire after ramming into the side of a bridge, said police. The family was returning from a wedding in Chamanpura village of Badaun district to their home in Delhi's Malviya Nagar.
According to the Circle Officer, Anupshahr, Ram Karan, it prima facie appeared that the driver of the car might have fallen asleep at the wheel.
By the time the police reached the spot, Gulnaaz, 27, was the lone survivor of the accident.
The woman was trembling. She asked for her phone and dialled a number, then she handed the phone to Ajeet to explain the incident to the man on the other end. 'I told him about the accident and explained the situation,' he said.
On Thursday, Ajeet, a security guard at Ace Divino society in Greater Noida, was at work when he shared that he had one regret despite saving a life. 'I hope she (the woman) is fine, but I wish I could have saved the man and the child, too. I can still recall their faces. I cannot imagine the family's loss and grief,' he said.
Neetika Jha is a Correspondent with The Indian Express. She covers crime, health, environment as well as stories of human interest, in Noida, Ghaziabad and western UP. When not on the field she is probably working on another story idea. On weekends, she loves to read fiction over a cup of coffee. The Thursday Murder club, Yellow Face and Before the Coffee Gets Cold were her recent favourites. She loves her garden as much as she loves her job. She is an alumnus of Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. ... Read More
