A stranded Indian family is all praise for the Armed Forces of UAE personnel, who helped them reach the airport on time to enjoy their vacation. It was on Wednesday afternoon that Subash Thangam was driving his wife Grace Ida, son Joshua and daughter Janet Sugi from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah Airport.
“My wife and kids were all excited as they were going to their native place in Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu. They were set to catch Air India Express flight to Tiruchirappalli. We don’t have direct flights from Abu Dhabi and depend on Sharjah and Dubai airports. We were near Dubai border when the front tyre went burst. This is the worst fear for anyone driving on the highways. I immediately rolled the car to the shoulder lane,” the Mussafah resident said.
Thangam was tensed and his wife almost in tears. Thangam was driving his friend’s car as it offered more luggage space than his own vehicle. Tension gave way to desperation as he couldn’t find a spare tyre.
“The incident happened 6-7km before the Adnoc pump. Hiring a taxi, asking for a lift, taking a bus or calling a friend were the many options but I couldn’t think of anything. My mind was blank. So many vehicles passed by and it was then that one of them stopped. It went past us and took the reverse. An Armed Forces’ personnel stepped out and the sight of uniform just blew away my worries,” said Thangam, who works at National Petroleum Construction Company.
The officer comforted the family.
“He told us to ‘be cool, we are all brothers’. He asked for a spare tyre and I told there was none. So he took out a spare tyre from his car but it didn’t match the specifications. It was then he asked to recheck my car thoroughly and luckily we found a spare one, which I had missed completely in my first search,” Thangam said.
The tyre, however, didn’t have enough air to resume the journey.
“It was then the personnel filled the tyre with his portable air compressor. He insisted on wife and kids sitting inside the car as he changed the tyre in the scorching sun. It was a very emotional moment for me and wife,” Thangam said.
He bade them farewell with an advice to check the air pressure at next petrol station.
“We say God can’t be everywhere, so he created angels to help those in distress. My angel came in the form of an Armed Forces’ personnel.”
The family was stranded on road from 4 pm and resumed journey by 4.56pm to reach the airport by 6 pm.
“My wife was all tears when the unknown hero left. She usually is a reserved person but went and thanked him profusely. My children were all happy. All of us are now motivated to help others.”
For Thangam, this incident brought back memories of the accident he had in 2003 when the car his friend was driving had a head-on collision with another vehicle.
“Then I was working in Dubai and didn’t sit behind wheels till 2013 as I joined a company here. I had all kind of experiences on highways but this ended up as a pleasant one thanks to the unknown hero. I couldn’t even ask his name but then angels have no name but a heart filled with generosity,” added Thangam.
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