It is an act of true heroism to prioritise the safety of those dependent on you, especially at a time of acute personal distress. By this marker, D. Balachandran is as heroic as they come.
Balachandran was driving two passengers to their home in Perungudi in his taxi, when he began to feel uneasy, Tambaram traffic police said. He immediately slowed the car and brought it to a halt on the road-side. “Seconds after he stopped, Balachandran collapsed on the steering wheel,” a traffic policeman said, adding the two passengers were safe. Any delay on his part could have endangered their lives.
The incident happened just in front of the police check-post on Grand Southern Trunk Road, in Tambaram. Before medical help could arrive, he died holding the handbrake with one hand and the steering wheel, with the other. Police said Balachandran had ferried the two passengers to the Regional Transport Office in Tambaram from their home in Perungudi.
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Balachandran of Kakkalur near Tiruvallur, had joined the call taxi operator 45 days ago, his colleagues said. His body was sent to Chromepet GH for post-mortem and a case of ‘unnatural death’ was registered by police.
In similar incidents in January this year, and October 2013, two bus drivers steered their passengers to safety on the same road, before collapsing. A. Anandan (31) of Kovilambakkam a young private bus driver died at the wheel but managed to save the lives of eight women passengers in January. In October, 2013, 45-year-Sampath steered a bus to safety before literally collapsing on the steering wheel in St. Thomas Mount