Shocking video footage captured the moment a man was airlifted from rising flood waters after his truck was pushed off the road, leaving him stranded and thinking he was going to die.
James Rufus was trapped in his tanker after it flipped onto its side by the raging waters of the Galana River, which swelled up following storms and heavy rain this week.
The man was left stranded on his truck along the Galana-Kulalu Causeway in south-eastern Kenya as the rushing waters continued to rise.
He was so hopeless that he began calling his loved ones from inside the cabin to say what he believed were his final goodbyes.
The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s Galana Ops Manager called in aerial support at around 4:30 p.m. on May 3, as James’ colleagues and friends watched on in horror from the shore.
Roan Carr-Hartley, 22, who works for the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and his older brother Taru, a pilot for the trust, immediately jumped into the helicopter sprang into action.
About 40 minutes after the alarm was sounded, the brothers arrived on the scene of the difficult rescue.
“Obviously in terms of the actual flying, it was a very tricky situation,” Roan told Caters.
The video shows the pair flying down to get close to Rufus as he climbs onto the top of his turned-up truck. Taru directs the helicopter as close as possible to Rufus as Roan leans out and helps the driver into the safety of the aircraft.
“You’ve got the standing waves of the water, which means that the rough floodwaters are pushing wind downstream. So it’s very choppy,” Roan explained.
“Troublesome winds are being pushed down the river too, and Taru had to manage all of this and keep the bird steady. We had to hover literally six inches from a fuel tanker, so there was no real room for error.”
“You can’t get your skids caught on anything and you have to be close enough, obviously, to step off onto the petrol tanker.”
Thankfully the brothers are expert rescuers and were ready to spring into action to rescue Rufus from his near-death experience.
“We are always on high alert because of the line of work we are in,” Roan said. “We’re working in anti-poaching, supporting wildlife veterinary cases, and rescuing trapped and injured animals, so we’re always on standby.”
He reveled in the satisfaction of being a rescuer describing the “amazing feeling” of having such a purposeful job.
“Part and parcel of the work we do is saving both animals and people. It’s such a rewarding thing and makes you sleep better at night knowing that with the support of your colleagues, you can make a difference,” Roan said.
“It just makes you so thankful that you’re in a position to lend a helping hand.”
“We are just both very, very thankful that we were able to get to him in time before the truck went downstream or the flood rose even more.”
