Moment disabled man leaps out of wheelchair and into sea to save drowning man… while he’s filming documentary about how he became paralysed by jumping off SAME pier
- Nikita Vankov leaped from his wheelchair to assist three men in the sea
- The licensed paradiver was filming on the pier in Anapa, Russia, on October 6
- He was paralysed after diving off the pier and fracturing vertebrae 13 years ago
This is the moment a brave disabled man jumped to the rescue of a swimmer in difficulty in the same spot he paralysed himself years before.
Nikita Vankov leaped from his wheelchair to help a drowning man while he was filming a documentary about how he was paralysed on the same pier.
Mr Vankov, a licensed paradiver, was on the pier in Anapa, Russia, when he saw two people in the sea trying to pull a third to safety on October 6.
Nikita Vankov leaped from his wheelchair to help a drowning man while he was filming a documentary about how he was paralysed on the same pier 13 years ago
Mr Vankov, a licensed paradiver, was on the pier in Anapa, Russia, when he saw two people in the sea trying to pull a third to safety on October 6 and jumped into help
He was shouting instructions to aid with the rescue from the pier, but the two men already in the water were starting to struggle.
The brave man undressed himself on the pier and climbed from the wheelchair before jumping into the Black Sea.
Mr Vankov is the first certified paradiver in Russia, and he swims and dives professionally.
He floated on his back and swam quickly to assist the three men, putting one arm around the one struggling to help keep his head above water.
The brave man undressed himself on the pier and climbed from the wheelchair before jumping into the Black Sea to assist with the rescue
The four men attempt to get to safety before a boat appears to rescue them from the water.
They are all pulled from the water and helped to safety on the ship.
Mr Vankov became paralysed after he jumped into the water from the same bridge 13 years ago which resulted in three fractured vertebrae.
A boat rescued the four men and pulled them to safety after Mr Vankov jumped into save the drowning man
Mr Vankov became paralysed after he jumped into the water from the same bridge which resulted in three fractured vertebrae and was able to rescue a man at the same place
He posted the video on his Instagram and said in the caption: ‘Never in my life could I have thought that I would find myself in a direct situation of human salvation!’
He said that the two men had been trying to rescue the third for a long time and one of them was already starting to get cramps.
The diver praised the men, adding: ‘All are alive and well, the guys are great fellows, that at the cost of their own health they heroically saved a person !!!
‘Such is the story, once I was on this pier 13 years ago crawling along the bottom and repeating the phrase ‘I will live, I will live’, and today I saved a person there!’
The four men were assisted by a passing boat as they struggled in the water