What seemed like a thirteen out of a dozen working day for Amsterdammer Jeroen de Boer (50) yesterday, ended with a heroic rescue operation on the grounds of his employer in Rozenburg. “Colleagues shouted that there was a car in the ditch. Then I grabbed a ladder and ran towards it.”
Once outside on the grounds of his employer – a coach company on Kruisweg – he sees a small passenger car standing across the ditch. “You go into rescue mode,” he tells NH Nieuws by phone.
He places the ladder against the concrete quay wall and clambers towards the car, which is half submerged. “I first checked how the driver was doing,” he says when NH Nieuws calls him.
‘Confused’
Through the still closed door, Jeroen sees that the driver – a man estimated to be around 30 years old – is not in a good condition. “He was confused, so I tried to keep him awake.” He decides not to open the door yet. “Because I didn’t know if he was injured, maybe he’ll fall out, slip a vertebra and become paralyzed.”
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When the ambulance is also on site, the brothers get the victim out of the car. Jeroen helps the medical staff to get him to dry land via the ladder he placed. The man was then taken to hospital with unknown injuries.
“When the car was towed out of the water, you saw that the front was damaged”
The police confirm that a single-vehicle accident occurred at Kruisweg around 4 p.m. yesterday, after which a victim was taken to hospital. It is not clear what the victim’s condition is. According to the spokesperson, he may have become unwell while driving.
“I suspect that the car came from the NH hotel”, Jeroen speculates, “had to swerve before someone and then made a steering error.” According to Jeroen, the car first hit ‘seriously against the concrete wall’ and then bounced back. “When the car was later lifted out of the water, you could clearly see that the front was completely assembled.”
trimmings
According to Jeroen, it is the first time that a car has ended up in the ditch in question. He does, however, regularly witness the aftermath of accidents at his employer’s doorstep. “Then turning motorists overlook cyclists or scooterers.”
He is sober about his rescue. “I also once saved my wife when she had a heart attack next to me in bed. Then this is a piece of cake.”