There was a tragic accident in Yerevan on September 16, 1976. A trolley bus fell into the water with a lot of passengers in it when crossing the Bridge of Yerevan Lake. The 92 passengers inside the trolley-bus could have died because the weather was cold then and they were stuck in the trolley-bus because they couldn’t break the windows. The big trolley bus was being covered by water fast and it could bring to a big tragedy.
At that time Shavarsh Karapetyan and Kamo Karapetyan were running near the Lake and didn’t hesitate to jump into the water and start saving the lives of those people. Shavarsh Karapetyan, who was a world and European champion and famous swimmer realized that the lives of those people depended on one second. “I could see nothing in the water because the water was too dirty. I realized that I was alone and the only person responsible for everything”, - said Shavarsh Karapetyan to newspaper correspondent. The lake was ten meters deep. Shavarsh made efforts and could break the window of the trolley bus. He entered inside by harming his legs and started to look for people with his hands. The brother of Shavarsh, Kamo, who was also a swimmer, was taking people to the bank from the surface after Shavarsh had brought them up to surface.
Shavarsh Karapetyan dove for thirty times and saved twenty people. He was taking the bodies of people to the surface and giving them to his brother to take out of the water. “I was going up to the surface, breathing and diving again. And after diving one more time I took a leather chair out from the trolley-bus, I was so tired that didn’t notice that it wasn’t a man”, - said Shavarsh. The friend of Shavarsh, Babken Khachatryan, once said that Shavarsh regretted much and often said that he could have saved one more life instead of that chair. It was actually impossible to do what Shavarsh did, because you have to be also very kind and have a strong will besides being a good swimmer and diver.
When some divers came to the lake it turned out that there was no air in their balloons. He was sure that he could save everyone if there was air in their balloons. The closed system of the Soviet Union didn’t allow publishing correct and right information about the accident, and the photos were kept only in the prosecutor’s office.
After saving the lives of those people Shavarsh Karapetyan was tired, out of power and his body was injured. As a result he got serious sicknesses, blood disease and pneumonia. There was sewage water in the lake too and this was also a reason for his sicknesses. After this accident Shavarsh had to forget about sports.
His life was divided into two parts: till the accident and after the accident. Shavarsh Karapetyan took treatment at hospitals for a long time and once asked the doctors: “Will I be able to swim again?” But the answer didn’t satisfy him, because being in cold water for a long time he had seriously damaged his health. “When after the accident I dove again I understood that my lung was not like before. Before I could play with my competitors, but now I have to struggle. I reached one more world record, but this one was the last”, - once said Shavarsh.
In 1993 he moved to Moscow and tried to start a new life: he founded a small shoe production there. His company was called “Second Breath”. Now he is a good businessman. Armenian shoemakers are considered to be the best ones in Moscow.
He hasn’t forgotten about his heroism 30 years ago. “The saved people didn’t know the name of the person who saved them”, - said B. Khachatryan. Only several years later in the period of “economy reconstruction” some books and information were published about Shavarsh Karapetyan.
His name became a household name in the USSR on October 12, 1982, when Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article on his feat, entitled "The Underwater Battle of the Champion". He was awarded a medal "For Saving Drowning People in the Water", the Order of the Badge of Honor, and some later “Fair Player” medal of UNESCO. This medal is given to people who are good in sports, but he didn’t do this heroism in sports, but in real life.
A main belt asteroid 3027 Shavarsh, discovered by Nikolai Chernykh, was named after him (approved by the MPC in September 1986).
References:
2. http://real-heroes.livejournal.com/470.html (in Russian)
3. http://mmmaximus.livejournal.com/69936.html (in Russian)
4.http://mir24.tv/news/society/4263381 (video, in Russian)
http://ria.ru/ocherki/20130619/944241195.html
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