Onlookers turn helpers, rescue auto driver from accident spot

New Delhi: Media reports often project Delhi and its residents as being indifferent to accident victims, stamping labels such as 'heartless' or 'selfish' when onlookers either pass by the accident or sometimes callously film it.

However, on Wednesday evening, a group pedestrians and motorists stopped to help an injured auto driver struck in a mangled auto after meeting an accident at Geeta Colony's Pushta road.

The accident took place when a Swift Dzire car suddenly hit brakes, causing the victim's auto to ram into the car.

The impact of the crash was so severe that the auto's front and the car's rear part were completely mangled and the auto driver was stuck.

The auto was ferrying a couple and on its way to Geeta Colony from Kashmiri Gate.

At that moment, a TV journalist passing by saw the accident and stopped to help.

"He (auto driver) was crying for help. I immediately rushed to help him. It was hard for one or two men to remove him, his legs were badly struck. But soon, people started stopping and the good thing was they were just not onlookers. They started helping," said Deepak Bisht, the journalist.

In about 20 minutes, the auto was surrounded by several helping hands and soon onlookers lifted the auto manually and rescued the driver from the pile of broken vehicle parts. The auto driver, writhing in pain, was soon taken to hospital for treatment, where his condition is stated to be stable.