A heroic act in Chennai’s Arumbakkam area on Wednesday, April 16, saved the life of a nine-year-old boy who collapsed after suffering an electric shock from stagnant rainwater. A passerby risked his own safety to pull the boy from the electric puddle and perform life-saving CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).
The incident took place on Muthumari Amman Koil Street, where Jaden Ryan, a Class 3 student, was walking to school. Following recent rains, the road was flooded, and an exposed underground electric cable electrified the water. Unaware of the danger, Jaden stepped into the puddle and immediately collapsed, struggling from the shock.
CCTV footage shows Jaden falling unconscious, while bystanders hesitated to intervene for fear of electrocution. It was then that Kannan Thamizhselvan, a young man on a two-wheeler, noticed the boy and jumped to action. CCTV visuals show Kannan tense up for a few seconds, before running across the water to pull the boy out, perform CPR, and rush him to the nearby hospital.
“At first, I thought he had just slipped. But when I saw him, I suspected an electric shock. I touched him twice and could feel a mild current. The second time, I managed to pull him out," Kannan told a television channel. The youngster is a diploma engineer from Kaliyaranviduthi in Pudukkottai district, and works for a construction material supplier in Arumbakkam.
When asked why he didn’t hesitate to help the boy when others did, he said, “As human beings, none of us know how long we will be alive. As long as we are, we should help each other.”
The act of courage quickly went viral after the CCTV footage surfaced on social media, sparking widespread praise.