A group of hikers whose quick thinking saved two people who fell down a steep embankment at Golden Ears Provincial Park near Maple Ridge earlier this month are being honoured by the RCMP for their bravery.
Gurpreet Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Arvindjeet Singh, Kulinder Singh, and Ajay Kumar — all international students — were given the Community Leadership Award, along with a certificate and tokens by the RCMP on Tuesday.
On Thanksgiving Monday, the group found the two hikers stranded at Lower Falls in Golden Ears Provincial Park. The five men tied their clothing and turbans together to make a long rope and then pulled the hikers up from the edge of Gold Creek.
Related video: Heroic effort by international students saves lives of two hikers in B.C.
Video of the rescue showed extremely high and fast running water below. Search and rescue crews have said if someone had fallen into the water, it’s unlikely they would have survived.
Gurpreet Singh says he’s hearing praise from his local community and abroad.
“So many people are saying, ‘Good thing you guys stopped. Not every person stops to try to help’ …. I’m feeling very happy, I can’t explain,” he said.
Related article: Quick-thinking group uses clothing, turbans to rescue hiker near Maple Ridge
Supt. Wendy Mehat with Ridge Meadows RCMP says a community leader award is given to people who demonstrate heroism and bravery.
“What’s significant, too, is they used a Sikh religious turban and removed that turban to tie them together to do this,” she said. “I’ve been a police officer for 21 years. I’ve never seen anything like this before in my career. It was amazing.”
Mehat can see the five heroes being community leaders in the future.
With files from OMNI