Shatananda Bhattacharya 

Abdul Bashit of the Sribhumi district of Assam, an Imam of the local mosque, has won many hearts for his presence of mind in the face of a grave situation and his act of saving seven persons from drowning.

People across Assam and Tripura are praising him for his efforts to save lives.

The incident occurred close to the Nilam Bazar area near the NH-8, connecting Assam and Tripura.

It was early Monday morning when an SUV lost control on the highway and plunged into a deep pond nearby. Most passengers were asleep at the time.

The reservoir is located near the Barbari Jame Mosque. Most of the locals were asleep on a foggy winter morning. Imam Abdul Bashit woke up as the car hit the swamp with a loud noise. He stepped out and saw that a car was sinking in the pond, and that passengers were struggling to get out of it.

Imam Abdul Bashit was shocked to see the scene outside. He realised that he could not save them alone. He immediately went inside the mosque and used the public address system to call the villagers to help the drowning people.

Hearing the words of the Imam, the people from the surrounding area rushed and jumped into the reservoir to rescue the passengers of the SUV. The imam himself jumped into the swamp and opened the doors of the sinking vehicle to rescue the passengers, including the driver. 

The villagers rescued all the passengers of the vehicle from the water without any injuries.  

"All the passengers in the vehicle were Hindus, but the rescuers were Muslims. This proves that humanity has no specific religion, caste or colour," said Shamsul Huda, an elderly man from Barbari.  

Imam Abdul Bashit is still unable to recover from the stress of the incident. He feels as if a storm is surrounding him.

He said that, at the time, the most important task for him was to rescue the passengers and the driver safely. The villagers ignored the cold, dense fog because the Imam had a humanitarian appeal to the villagers. 

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"People's lives are not just for their own lives, but to keep others well, to save others' lives, to keep others safe is the real, meaningful life," he said.