Footballers' Off-field Heroics

futbol (links to original article)

(Sabah Newspaper, 22 March 2011)

Footballers from Zonguldakspor on their way to an away match in
Ankara on the team bus encountered an accident in which a car had
fallen into the river in Devrek district of Zonguldak province. The
footballers rescued the injured passengers from the car and recorded
the rescue on video with their cellphones. One person died and three
people were injured in the incident.

A car with plate number 67 ES 984 driven by Cemal Yardım fell into
the river from an approximately ten-meter cliff on the Devrek-Bolu
highway in Mengen district. The Zonguldakspor team, one of the regional
amateur clubs, was on its way to an away match in Ankara when they
saw the accident. They then got off their bus in order to help the accident
victims.

The footballers and a rescue team learned from Yardım, who was injured
but had managed to get himself out of the overturned vehicle, that there were
three other people trapped in the car.  The players and rescuers descended
from the cliff and saved Nihal Yurtbay and Mahir Yardım. The footballers
were able to extract the wounded to the road above using the branches
of the tall trees lining the steep hill. With the help of the 112 Rescue Service
team that had arrived at the scene of the incident, they successfully extracted
82-year old Rakibe Yardım from the crushed car.

The victims were all taken to Zonguldak Atatürk State Hospital except for
the seriously injured Rakibe Yardım who was transported to Zonguldak
Karaelmas University Medical Department Hospital where she died. The
footballers, who recorded their rescue efforts with their cellphones, departed
for Ankara afterwards.