Meet Ketan Jorawadia, the 22-year-old who saved 10 lives in Surat fire
It was a regular summer day for Ketan when he noticed a pandemonium taking place in a commercial complex nearby. He didn’t take much time to understand that the building had caught fire and there were people stuck inside it!
There were no signs of fire squad and he heard someone say that authorities won’t arrive for the next 30 minutes. After a while, he witnessed many people, including a few students, losing their lives or getting injured in their attempts to escape the massive fire. In her desperation to escape the fire, one of the girls fell down from the window, and that triggered Ketan’s inner hero to come to the surface.
This was the moment when he ran towards the building with an intention to help people. When videos of the fire went viral on social media, Ketan was seen climbing a ladder to the third floor and helping people get out through the window. He looked like a real-life Spiderman as he was hanging on the window panes to save trapped people.
He reached the top and started pulling out students one by one. After a while, he went inside the building to help people who were stuck inside, unable to breathe amid the smoke. By the time help arrived, Ketan had already saved 10 people from the blaze.
“The fire brigade reached around 40 minutes after the fire broke out. They took some time in parking fire engines. They did not have sufficient equipment. If they were having something like a net, some students could have saved their lives by jumping on it," he said.
This horrific incident was over after a few hours, but Ketan’s selfless efforts didn’t go unnoticed by the media. After the video of the fire was released online, many people noticed the brave act put up by Ketan and soon, his clip went viral.
One of the Twitter users uploaded his picture with this caption- “This boy is Ketan Jorawadia. He is the same boy who saved at least 2 girls from falling in Surat coaching fire. He could have easily saved his life. The fire & smoke was scary instead this boy stayed at the 3rd floor & saved 2 girls from falling. Salute Ketan. You redefined bravery!”
Soon, online media was full of praise for the 22-year-old man. He was hailed as the hero of Surat. Check out some of the tweets that exhibit nothing but appreciation and respect for the real-life hero.
“Words fall short when I talk about this brave Gentleman.”
“Meet Ketan Jorawadia who climbed up & saved the life of 2 students yesterday in Takshshila complex.”#SuratFireTragedy
“Putting his own life at risk, he actually becomes an example of humanity.”
“Thank you, brother, from Surat.”
“Heroic efforts done by a young man, who put his life in danger to save the students who were stuck in the fire!”
“Hero of #Surat.”
“Prayers to all students and hats off to this brave man.”
Even cricketer, VVS Laxman shared Ketan’s picture and wrote, “My heartfelt condolences to children who lost their lives in the tragic incident in Surat yesterday. Very proud of Ketan Jorawadia, who showed exemplary courage and saved at least 2 children from falling in the fire.”
The owner of the building was arrested and the fire was put to an end. Ketan shall always remain a hero but he had an important message for the citizens.
“If more people tried to help instead of filming the tragedy on their phones, more lives could have been saved,” he told a source.
Well, that’s something to think about. Nonetheless, we are proud of you, Ketan. The world needs more heroes like you!
