B.C. farmer saves girl from drowning in North Thompson River

Avtar Hothi used his turban to pull the girl to safety

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

A Heffley Creek, British Columbia farmer’s quick thinking saved a girl from drowning in the North Thompson River.

Avtar Hothi, who is of Sikh faith, took off his turban and used it as a rope to pull the young girl, who appeared to be 14 or 15, to safety. Males of the Sikh faith aren’t usually seen without turbans.

“He threw his turban in. It’s probably 10 or 12 feet (long),” Nicole Mulcahy, who originally heard the girl’s cries for help, told InfoTel Media.

“I’m very proud of him,” Avtar’s son Paul told CBC, adding that the religion states the head must be covered.

If it wasn’t for Avtar’s actions, the outcome could’ve been quite different.

Avtar Hothi                                                                                           Photo: CFJC News

“It would’ve been a lot harder to just pull someone up off shore,” Paul told CFJC Today.

“I’m just happy it turned out the way it did,” Mulcahy said.

After the girl was rescued, Paul, Avtar, Nicole and her friend Betty Timmus helped collect and wrap the girl in blankets before Avtar drove her home.

Avtar has been called a hero and some have given him the nickname, Turbanator.