Risking their own lives to save others’

The divers work without any protective gear or insurance cover all through the year in the most polluted stretch of the river

“A few years ago, a five-year-old girl had drowned in the Yamuna and there was little chance of her surviving. I somehow managed to rescue her, gave her CPR and she started breathing again”, recalled rescue diver Shehzad Ali. Actively working in the Yamuna river stretch in Delhi for more than a decade now, the 48-year-old diver said, he has saved more than 300 lives so far. 

Sharing his sentiments about the job with  The Hindu, Mr. Ali said, “There is a joy in rescuing people and uniting them with their loved ones.”

From the fear of being drowned to contracting skin infections, rescue divers at Yamuna — one of the most polluted rivers in the world — fight a daily battle with death.

Mr. Ali is part of a 20-member team known as the ‘Rescue Boat Club’ (RBC), which guards more than half-a-dozen spots marked “dangerous” along the 22-km long stretch of Yamuna in Delhi. The club is the only one of its kind that retrieves the bodies of victims of accident, suicide, or murder from the water.  

Set up in 1965, the RBC is run by the Delhi government and falls under the jurisdiction of the District Magistrate (East). 

“I manage to save at least 10 lives every month. I do it more as a social service than as a job. My mission is to rescue everyone,” he said. Ali and his fellow divers are now bracing for tough days ahead as the number of calls tends to rise between March and September. When the Yamuna is in spate during the monsoon, the divers remain on high alert, attending to several calls a day. They also set up night camps on the river bank to keep watch.  

The RBC receives over 200 emergency calls every year. Of the 213 calls received in 2021, the team rescued 31 persons alive and recovered 76 bodies from the city’s drains, canals and rivulets.