A Kazakh police officer risked his life and that his colleague’s by parking their patrol car in the way of a heavy truck that could have crashed into a bus carrying 18 children and four adults. Medics say their condition is grave but stable.
“A 50-year-old driver of a KAMAZ truck turned the wheel into oncoming traffic. In order to prevent the KAMAZ from crashing into a bus with 18 children and 4 supervisors, chief police officer Murat Nurseitov without hesitation put his patrol car across the road,” a statement issued by the press-service of Pavlodar Internal Affairs Department said.
The accident occurred on the road from the capital Astana to Pavlodar on Friday, February 17, at around 10:50 am local time. An investigation is underway.
The driver, Nurseitov, who was induced into a coma by doctors, eventually woke up, Kazakh news outlet Informburo.kz reported. He has already been visited by relatives.
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The other officer, Bayanbek Zhunusov, who was also in the patrol car, suffered minor injuries and refused to go to a hospital.
Nurseitov and Zhunusov received five million tenge (more than $15,000) as a reward for their brave deed from the AO Almatel company.
The eighteen children accompanied by four adults were on their way to a sports competition.
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In July, a Russian police officer, Aleksandr Kosolapov, similarly prevented an accident on the road to the city of Abakan, the capital of the Khakassia Republic in southern Siberia.