An Usual Rescue
Hikers used their turbans to save 2 men in waterfall pool
Five hikers in British Columbia used their turbans to save two men on their trail when the pair unexpectedly fell into a pool below a waterfall.
Kuljinder Kinda and four friends were hiking in Golden Ears Provincial Park on Oct. 11 when a group nearby told them that two men had slipped on a slick rock and fallen into a pool above the lower falls and could not pull themselves back to safety.
Video of the incident is being shared widely after Kinda posted his recording on WhatsApp and it made its way to hiking channels.
Kinda said the people who stopped to help asked them to call emergency services, but they didn’t have cellphone service. That’s when they came up with the idea to create a rope out of their turbans, one of five articles worn by Sikhs as headdresses usually made of cotton that protects their uncut hair.
“We were trying to think how we could get them out, but we didn’t know how to,” said Kinda, an electrician originally from Punjab, India, who is Sikh. “So we walked for about 10 minutes to find help and then came up with the idea to tie our turbans together.”
Kinda and his friends removed their turbans and other articles of clothing to securely knot the fabric together and create a 10-meter (about 33 feet) makeshift rope to safely pull the two men back onto the trail. They threw the rope down to the men and instructed them to tighten it before they pulled themselves up.
“In Sikhi, we are taught to help someone in any way we can with anything we have, even our turban,” Kinda said.
Kinda said he and his friends weren’t scared for their safety.
“We just really cared about the safety of the men,” he said.
be brave . be kind . help each other
be PEACE
