YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. September 16 marks the 40th anniversary of the heroic deed committed by finswimmer Shavarsh Karapetyan. He saved 20 passengers in trolleybus incident in Yerevan Lake on September 16, 1976, reports “Armenpress”.

On that day, training with his brother Kamo, also a finswimmer, by running alongside the Yerevan Lake, Karapetyan had just completed his usual distance of 20 km (12 mi) when he heard the sound of the crash and saw the sinking trolleybus which had gone out of control and fallen from the dam wall.

The trolleybus lay at the bottom of the reservoir some 25 metres (80 ft) offshore at a depth of 10 metres (33 ft). Karapetyan swam to it and, despite conditions of almost zero visibility, due to the silt rising from the bottom, broke the back window with his legs. The trolleybus was crowded, it carried 92 passengers and Karapetyan knew he had little time, spending some 30 to 35 seconds for each person he saved.

Karapetyan managed to rescue 20 people (he picked up more, but 20 of them survived), but this ended his sports career: the combined effect of cold water and the multiple wounds he received (scratched by glass), left him unconscious for 45 days.

Karapetyan was born on May 19 in 1953 in Vanadzor. He has become 11-time world record holder, 17-time world champion, 13-time European champion.