Hero Onlookers Save Little Girl As Dad Drives Off Pier

Story By: Sibel Abdiu, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the moment heroic onlookers dive into the sea to save a young girl after her suicidal father drove their pickup truck off a pier and into the sea.

The incident was caught on CCTV security cameras at the Eminonu car ferry pier in Turkey’s biggest city of Istanbul.

The footage shows the white pickup truck driving towards the ferry when it suddenly swerves sharply right and shoots over the edge of the pier and into the sea.

Picture Credits: AsiaWire

An eyewitness with a smartphone then films a rescuer, who had reportedly dived into the sea, pull a young girl from the vehicle and swim with her towards shore.

As the man nears the pier, another man dives into the sea to help him bring the child, named only as G.H., to safety. 

The driver of the pickup truck, the little girl’s father, named as Zeki H., made it back to dry land unaided, according to local media.

Zeki H. and his daughter were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where their condition is described as stable.

Police and firefighters also attended the incident. A mobile crane was brought in to winch the vehicle from the sea and it was impounded by the police for tests.

Police divers were also called in to ensure there had been nobody else in the car and determined there were no other victims.

Zeki H. has been interviewed by police and told them he had intended to commit suicide because of family problems, according to local media. He faces charges of attempted murder.

Eminonu is the home of the only car ferry across the Bosphorus, the narrow stretch of sea which separates the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.