Three Strangers Risk Their Lives To Save Child From Submerged Taxi

January 27, 2026

Three men in Dagestan, Russia, are being praised as heroes after risking their own safety to rescue a young child from a taxi that slid off the road and into a fast-moving canal.

Video of the rescue / @independent

The dramatic rescue unfolded in the city of Makhachkala, where a taxi veered into the October Revolution Canal and began floating downstream. Video from the scene shows the men balancing precariously on a metal pipe stretched across the canal as they worked to reach the vehicle.

With freezing temperatures and rushing water below them, the men leaned down and pulled the child through an open window of the partially submerged car — just moments before the situation could have turned far worse. One of the rescuers even stripped down to his underwear to help, undeterred by the cold.

The boy was carefully lifted up, passed from one rescuer to the next, and safely returned to the canal bank. Witnesses later said the child’s mother and the taxi driver were also rescued after bystanders entered the water with a rope to pull them to safety.

According to Russian news outlet Izvestia, the taxi driver, Nurislam Ramazanov, said he lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid a parked car blocking the road. Traveling at about 30 mph, the car skidded and became uncontrollable, and neither the brakes nor gas pedal responded.

Despite the chaos, Ramazanov said he stayed calm and focused on reassuring the mother.

“The child went out the window first,” he said. “The guys caught him. The child didn’t even get wet — there was no water inside the cabin. The baby was dry.”

Witnesses praised all three men for their quick thinking and courage.

Watch the rescue in the video below: