On Thursday afternoon, November 6, the residents of Rezekne were shocked by the news: a local man, while reversing his car, drove into a pond. He could not escape from the vehicle and tragically died. On Friday, November 7, a friend of the deceased, who witnessed the tragedy and tried to save his friend, reported on what happened, according to the Degpunktā program (TV3).
Sergey showed a video on his phone of one of the hardest moments of his life — firefighters pulling a car out of the pond. Igor, his close friend, was behind the wheel, who drowned the day before while remaining in the driver's seat.
Sergey explained that it all started when Igor was going to take the car to the service station. The mechanic was not there at the time, so he decided to wait at a nearby friend's house. The plan was to drink a little and then take the car. Sergey suggested changing the order of things.
"I told him myself: let's drive the car while we're sober, it's only 300 meters. And he replied, 'The mechanic is not here yet, there's no need to rush,'" Sergey recalls.
So they relaxed and drank until it was time to go to the service. Igor got behind the wheel and put the car in reverse. The car was on an incline. "I looked out the window and thought — here’s a taxi driver who doesn’t know how to drive in reverse," Sergey recounted the events of that day.
"I went outside — I thought the car had already turned around, but no. I looked — it was already down below," he continued. The car rolled straight into the pond. Sergey rushed to save his friend. "The car started to float. I wanted to hook it with a rope, but there was no hook. That's it."
"First, I called 112, then I tried to pull him out myself. The car was underwater, only the back window was visible. I took an axe, broke the glass, there was already water inside, I shouted, 'Igor! Igor!' But nothing..." Sergey clarified.
After the unsuccessful attempt to save his friend, Sergey swam to the shore when rescuers arrived. The car was about eight meters from the shore, at a depth of about four meters — the task was not easy.
"Two fire trucks arrived at the scene — one from Rezekne, the other from Ludza. By the time they arrived, the car was already completely underwater. With the help of a winch, the firefighters pulled it out," said Edgar Yeshkov, acting commander of the Rezekne fire department.
It took about 30 minutes to extract the car. Each minute further destroyed Sergey’s hope that his friend was alive. When Igor was finally brought out, Sergey admitted:
"I didn't sleep all night. We had known each other for 12 years... just like that."
Sergey is heartbroken and remembers his deceased friend. Meanwhile, Igor's brother took on the responsibility of informing the other family members that the 63-year-old man had passed away.
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