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SINGAPORE: “I must save him. I must save him, ”was the constant refrain in Das Dipto’s mind when he saw a frightened young man perched precariously on the third-floor ledge outside a block of flats on Sunday morning (January 3) on Hougang Street 22.
The 27-year-old landscape maintenance worker was cleaning the boom lift, known as a spider lift, which operated daily to trim trees, when a passerby asked him and his colleague Biswas Jibom for help.
Speaking with CNA, Mr. Dipto said that when the passerby pointed to the boy on the ledge, he instantly remembered his young nephew in Bangladesh.
This spurred him to quickly decide that his spider lift would be the best option to save him.
With Mr. Biswas’s guidance, Mr. Dipto carefully maneuvered the large machine down a narrow path, flanked by an open drain on one side and protruding block windows on the other.
Das Dipto and the spider elevator he used to rescue the stranded boy. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
As he piloted his crane towards the boy, he said he heard the boy cry.
“The only thing I had in mind was how to get the child down safely,” said Dipto, the youngest of five siblings.
In a widely circulated video, the boy, who had been hanging from a clothesline, could be seen momentarily releasing his grip as Mr. Dipto walked towards him.
Onlookers who had gathered downstairs were heard shouting in alarm for the boy to hold on.
Seconds later, Mr. Dipto managed to get his crane close enough to the boy, reaching out towards him with both arms and quickly lifting him to the platform, drawing cheers from the crowd.
With one arm around the boy and one hand controlling the crane, Mr. Dipto lowered the boy to safety before a paramedic from the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) took him away.
Later that morning, the boy’s mother, along with the boy, thanked Mr. Dipto profusely.
“She said, ‘Sir, you saved my son. Thank you, sir, ‘”Dipto said.
Dipto didn’t know his efforts had gone viral until later that day, when a friend asked him if he knew his photos and videos were “all over the news.”
Dipto’s action was also going viral in his hometown of Narail, Dhaka, thanks to his fourth brother, who also works for the landscaping company Yong Aik Construction, and had sent the video to his mother, as well as friends and relatives.
During his daily phone call, Dipto said that his mother told him that she was very happy that he had saved the child and that many people had approached her to ask if she knew that her son, who worked in Singapore, had saved a child.
“She was very happy and proud of me,” he said.
Mr Dipto posted photos of the rescue on his Facebook page on Monday night with the caption: “In a working time, I saved the life of a child in Singapore … my life is finally a good job … I pray to God that doing the job correctly … “
As of Tuesday night, his post had been shared 4,800 times and generated countless comments praising him.
Dipto said he was happy to have managed to save the boy, who was only six years old and “had his whole life ahead of him.”
“I felt like Spider-Man because I was driving my spider (elevator) and moving very fast. I saw the boy, I took my spider and I went up quickly (to save the boy) ”, he said smiling.
Yong Aik Construction’s business development manager Marcus Ang, who is Dipto’s supervisor, said the company will reward Dipto and Biswas for their calm and efficient actions in rescuing the boy.
He added that SCDF will recognize the efforts of both workers at an awards ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
