Foreigner jumps into Chiang Mai canal to save Thai teen from sinking car

By Coconuts Bangkok 

 

Photo: Guru Chiang Mai/ Facebook

 

CHIANG MAI: -- An elderly foreigner was praised online for saving the life of a Chiang Mai teen whose car had strayed off the road and into a khlong last night.

 

The heroic act of James Charles Grand, 61, was shared by Chiang Mai Facebook community “Guru Chiang Mai,” after the foreigner dove in to retrieve the injured teen from the sinking car.

 

Grant, whose nationality was not disclosed, was reportedly riding a motorbike when he passed by the scene of the accident in central Chiang Mai. The Thai teen was sent to the hospital by rescue volunteers. 

 

Full story: https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/foreigner-jumps-chiang-mai-canal-save-thai-teen-sinking-car/

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2017-05-23

Wow. 

A true hero.

Fair play to him for risking his life to save another. It is so nice to hear a good news story involving a foreigner, when so much of what we hear of is sad, bad and ugly.

I hope the young man saved makes a full recovery.

 

Fair play to him for risking his life to save another. It is so nice to hear a good news story involving a foreigner, when so much of what we hear of is sad, bad and ugly.
I hope the young man saved makes a full recovery.
 

Yes.
I can relate to stories like this in personal way.
As a teen I was saved from certain drowning by two strangers.
This kid will never forget his real life angel.

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Yes.
I can relate to stories like this in personal way.
As a teen I was saved from certain drowning by two strangers.
This kid will never forget his real life angel.

I did it three times many years back and they never bought me a beer.....

An excellent story of the type of expat Thailand needs... Kudos too him... 

 

On a slightly different note: It seems that there are so many cars which end up in the moat. How is that ?

Either people really have no idea how to drive, or there are so many extremely drunk drivers (or a combination of both).

There is a video on CM108, but it is after it happened. Near School for the Blind , Suan Dokh Gate area.

Apparently used his rather large crash helmet to break the window and get him out. See you should always wear a crash helmet, it has its uses !!

 

So age 61 is "elderly" now, eh coconuts? Typical ageist millenials...

Truly heroic, but don't understand the picture...are the BIBs checking his license after saving someone???

Way to go..fast thinking....Now he wants to be left alone...old school...

1 hour ago, webfact said:

car had strayed off the road and into a khlong

 

For this very reason, I always try to keep my cars on a short leash.

23 minutes ago, Rama said:

Truly heroic, but don't understand the picture...are the BIBs checking his license after saving someone???

This photo might have been taken at another time.His heroic act of diving in the moat would I suggest leave him dripping wet

10 minutes ago, Sparkles said:

This photo might have been taken at another time.His heroic act of diving in the moat would I suggest leave him dripping wet

Stripped off to dive in ??

Bit difficult to  swim in long trousers!

it does look like the guy is being harassed

1 hour ago, Rama said:

Truly heroic, but don't understand the picture...are the BIBs checking his license after saving someone???

 

Probably his work permit.

Good guys in bad guys out. Uh oh.

12 hours ago, Rama said:

Truly heroic, but don't understand the picture...are the BIBs checking his license after saving someone???

Probably.  Here in the states, I have been literally a lifelong boy scout.  On a visit back to my home town, while walking early at 630 AM, passing several joggers, old people walking etc, a cop pulled over and demanded he frisk me saying I looked suspicous and wanted to know what I was doing walking at 630!  Then a week later while leaving my sister's house a cop pulled up saying the lawn guys across the way called because they were wondering what I was doing in the house and where the old lady was.  The old lady had sold the house two years ago!  And two other times when I called the cops the first or second thing they do, is demand ID, even if the other guys were the bad guys.  This is why so many people don't call the cops.  Even with nothing to hide you often get directed to do things, pushed around, etc.

14 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Wow. 

A true hero.

Absolutely correct. 

The word "hero" is bandied about so much these days that it has lost it's true meaning.

At what age does 'elderly' begin in Thailand? From 57?  The proper term is middle-aged, late-middle age lasts until 75, whereupon the term elderly can be used.

1 hour ago, gk10002000 said:

while walking early at 630 AM, passing several joggers, old people walking etc, a cop pulled over and demanded he frisk me saying I looked suspicous and wanted to know what I was doing walking at 630!

Try trading the trench coat and loafers  in for a  ski parka and some adidas.

Way To Go.

Thanks for caring!

 

14 hours ago, Rama said:

Truly heroic, but don't understand the picture...are the BIBs checking his license after saving someone???

They are giving him the usual 500B fine for being a farang  riding a bike in C M

15 hours ago, LMM said:

So age 61 is "elderly" now, eh coconuts? Typical ageist millenials...

Sixty-one has always been old. Those older may think is is still young, but let's face; at sixty-one much more of your life is behind you than ahead of you.

17 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Fair play to him for risking his life to save another. It is so nice to hear a good news story involving a foreigner, when so much of what we hear of is sad, bad and ugly.

I hope the young man saved makes a full recovery.

 

I hope the rescuer doesn't catch something nasty. The water in the moat looked far from clean recently.

17 hours ago, webfact said:

after the foreigner dove in to retrieve the injured teen from the sinking car.

Past tense of dive is 'dived'.... "dove" is a noun referring to white pigeon !!

11 minutes ago, masuk said:

The water in the moat looked far from clean recently.

Ummm what happened to the large quantity of chlorine they tipped in a month ago so that the water was 'safe' for Songkran??

9 minutes ago, wirat69 said:

Past tense of dive is 'dived'.... "dove" is a noun referring to white pigeon !!

Quote

Dived is the traditional past tense and past participle of the verb dive. But the newer dove, which probably came about by analogy with similar words like drove and wove, has been in the language approximately two centuries and is now standard in American and Canadian English. Outside North America, where dived still prevails by a large margin, some might consider dove wrong.

 

According to this ngram, which graphs occurrence of the phrases he dived and he dove in a large number of American books and periodicals published from 1850 to 2000, dove has recently overtaken dived in American writing: 

The corresponding graph for British English is much different:

http://grammarist.com/usage/dove-dived/

 

You opened the door 

I expect this chap has been a decent fellow since day  one. The kind of guy who knows when his kids' birthdays are and who has always been held in high regard.

17 hours ago, transam said:

I did it three times many years back and they never bought me a beer.....

did you a least get a T-shirt, ''I saved lives and all i got was this lousy T-shirt''

Good work, and I hope the rescuer gets a medal.

It also goes to show that there are so many tourists and foreigners now staying in Chiangmai that the gang of Thai youngsters, that are usually at hand when there is trouble, was nowhere to be seen, apparently.