When we speak of heroism, it is sometimes a courageous act.
But the history of mankind knows real heroes, among them one can name a kind, brave man, a swimmer, who saved people’s lives three times.
And each time saving dozens of people, he endangered his own life.
His name is Shavarsh Karapetyan.
Before talking about his incredible achievements, it should be noted that he is an Armenian swimmer and diver, 11 times world record holder, 17 times world champion, 13 times European champion and seven times USSR champion in swimming and in a dive.
But it is not for all these victories and titles that he became a hero.
It was in 1976. The 23-year-old swimmer, Shavarsh Karapetyan was racing along a road, at the edge of the pond called Yerevan, with his brother Kamo.
Suddenly the brothers saw that a trolleybus strayed from its path and fell into the lake.
The trolley was filled with passengers. Later it became known that he was leading 46 people.
It was morning and in September the water was already cold.
Together with his brother, Shavarsh immediately went to the rescue of people who were drowning in the water.
With the help of his brother, he managed to break some trolleybus windows with his feet, to remove the fainted people from them and twenty times, swimming in cold water, to bring them to the edge.
Unfortunately, he could not save everyone, because after the twentieth dive the sportsman lost consciousness due to several injuries and unbearable fatigue.
His second achievement concerns the 30 bus travelers.
The driverless bus, stopped on a slope, began to roll slowly into the abyss.
Chavarsh was there with a few sports buddies who had come from the competitions.
Seeing the bus get off, the swimmer quickly rushed to the driver’s seat and managed to stop the bus which was rolling just towards the gorge.
And once the young sportsman helped firefighters save people from the fire of a concert hall in the capital, from which he emerged with several burns.
Shavarsh, the great man and famous sportsman, is still loved and esteemed by his countrymen and all who know his story.
Asteroid number 3027 was named Shavarsh.
