On this day in 1907, a railroad engineer named Jesús García Corona (pictured here) saved the entire village of Nacozari de García in Sonora, Mexico. When García noticed a box car that was stopped in the mining town had caught fire, and saw the blaze heading toward a car containing dynamite, he sprung to action and was able able to drive the locomotive six kilometers out of the town before the dynamite exploded, killing himself and 12 other rail workers, but sparing Nacozari.
There is a monument to Corona in the town square, streets named after him throughout Mexico, and a soccer stadium honoring him called Estadio Héroe de Nacozari. So on this, the anniversary of his incredible sacrifice, we tracked down a handful of rescue efforts that were absolutely amazing, much like the one Corona pulled off 101 years ago.
If you know of any incredible rescues we missed, please let us know in the comments.
Amazing Rescues
Jesús García Corona was a Mexican railroad engineer who was killed trying to keep a train loaded with dynamite from exploding near Nacozari de García, Sonora, in 1907. García drove the train at full-steam six kilometers out of the town before the dynamite exploded, killing him and 12 other railwaymen and bystanders, but sparing the population of the mining town.
lajornada
Prinsendam Rescue A fire broke out on the Dutch cruise vessel Prinsendam off Ketchikan, Alaska on 4 October 1980. The Prinsendam was 130 miles from the nearest airstrip. The cruise ship's captain ordered the ship abandoned and the passengers, many elderly, left the ship in the lifeboats. Coast Guard and Canadian helicopters and the cutters Boutwell, Mellon, and Woodrush responded in concert with other vessels in the area. The passenger vessel later capsized and sank. The rescue is particularly important because of the distance traveled by the rescuers, the coordination of independent organizations and the fact that all 520 passengers and crew and crew were rescued without loss of life or serious injury.
AP
Coast Guard's Hurricane Katrina effort Search and rescue operations alone saved 24,135 lives from imminent danger, usually off the roofs of the victims' homes as flood waters lapped at their feet. Coast Guardsmen "evacuated to safety" 9,409 patients from local hospitals. In total, 33,545 souls were saved. Seventy-six Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft took part in the rescues. They flew 1,817 sorties with a total flight time of 4,291.3 hours in the air. The air crews saved 12,535. A total of 42 cutters and 131 small boats also participated, with their crews rescuing 21,200. Over 5,000 Coast Guardsmen served in Katrina operations.
Eric Gay, AP
36-hour distress call pays off and saves ships passengers ...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rescue/peopleevents/pandeAMEX90.html
hamradio.arc.nasa.gov
Man saves climber left for dead on Everest ...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/273360_climber09.html
Binod Joshi, AP
During WWII, US airmen protected by Yugoslavian peasants for 66 days before they could be airlifted.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/sep/01/soldier-recounts-wwii-rescue/
AP
Dolphins rescue whales ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23588063/
WSPA / AP
Columbian military dupes Farc rebels and rescues 15 hostages ...
http://warandhealth.com/colombian-hostage-rescue-could-of-been-discovered-by-a-single-internet-search/
Colombian Army / AP
Man saves convulsing man from being run over by subway train ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/nyregion/03life.html
NBC / AP
Firefighters rescue a man from the edge of Niagara Falls ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=386a4-Ch7Nw
youtube.com
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Saturday 08 November
By Matt
You forgot the heroes of 9/11. "Let's roll..." still gives me chills.
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Saturday 08 November
By The Boze
Every person who wore the uniform of the United States military. Who served with honor and dignity. Who served without complaining, without challenging lawful orders, who did their job whether they chose it, liked it or not, and who refused to speak badly of their service no matter how long ago it was. ok, the food was not the best but you can't say it was overpriced.
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Saturday 08 November
By Fox
Now this guy was a true hero. I'm so tired of hearing the word "hero" get overused and misapplied to people who simply survive a bad or dangerous situation or those who die in a tragedy. I realize it comes from our desire to exalt the dead, but the fact is dying in or surviving a tragedy does not make one a hero.
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Saturday 08 November
By BobF
This was over 20 years ago, and I'm probably getting some facts wrong, but wasn't there a guy who jumped from a bridge in Washington D.C. into some winter waters to save a stewardess who had been involved in a plane crash and was about to go down for what looked like the last time?
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Saturday 08 November
By Doc
'Ol Jesus done GOOD ! Nice to see him Honored after 101 years. If all was known there are perhaps Thousands of those Heros around. Bless them ALL.
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Saturday 08 November
By Frank
I'm not sure how Webster's would define Hero, but my understanding of it is; anyone that sacrifices for the good of another. There's everday heros, that are unsung, from the devoted parents that sacrifice for their children, to the donors at the blood bank, and the soldiers that sacrifice the ultimate price, we owe them all the deepest gratitude.
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Saturday 08 November
By Carol Houghton
Of course we Americans remember the heros of 9/11, but you forgot the greatest hostage rescue of all time: The Israeli raid on the Entebbe Airport in Ughanda. Over fifty people were saved, and the planning and execution was nothing short of brilliant.
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Saturday 08 November
By borderraven
There is a fine line between "victim", "hero", and "professional". There were a few "heroes" on 9/11, and many victims, but the cops and firefighters, were professionals, just doing there jobs. Most firefighters who died in the WTC, were victims of the stupid practice, of setting up a command post in the lobby of a set of buildings, that have the incident, when one thousand feet up wind should be the norm. The family of a cop, or firefighter, or CEO, who died in WTC, deserves no more than the janitor's widow. They were all doing their job. But, all were victims of terrorism.
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Sunday 09 November
By JGunn
It seems to me that you forgot one of the most daring rescues of all time, the miracle at Dunkirk?
more than 300000 soldiers rescued over ten days by the locals and using every boat imaginable to get them off the beach and away from the surrounding Nazi army?
I guess dolphins saving sperm whales is cool and all, but you guys missed something critical here.
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Sunday 09 November
By SBlue
There are many instances of heroism in which a person goes above and beyond what is expected of them, or puts him or herself in danger in order to help another. Although brave, I don't believe that soldiers count as heroes, just simply by being soldiers. Firemen, perhaps, depending on what situations they have faced. But even everyday people who have risked their lives. Two particular examples that come to mind were the many people who resisted the attempts of the Nazis and hid Jews, Gypsies, etc., and those who worked along the underground railroad and helped to save escaped slaves.
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Sunday 09 November
By APERSON
the greatest hero would be the one that saves the children from the war in Uganda from the rebels
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Monday 10 November
By Francisco
Thanks to the famous corrido Maquina 501 , we know the story.
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Monday 10 November
By charlie
we should aknowledge those brave souls who stand up and fight against the brainwashing and the ignorance of the common man by the elite.who reveal at great risk the presence of alien races living in our earth and the moleviant manner in witch they abduct our kind.there are thousands and thousands of our children taken in america alone every year for,exspirements,slavery,and food.while the common man lies in denile and ignorance.and the elite cover this up and persecute those brave souls who deny themselves to bring an ignorant people truth.they are the heros of our day and future.blessed be them who truly give all!
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Monday 10 November
By Jammie
The 9/11 heros are a given. They should be here, along with those men and women who not only serve, but those that have died for our freedom.
That being said, the foolowing is of a guys who drove by a plane crash and dove off the bridge to save people who couldn't save themselves (They didn't have the strenghth to hold onto the resuce helicopter ring buoy). What a selfish act. They were Real Heros.
This was a plane crash during a snowstorm in Washington, D.C. On January thirteenth, nineteen eighty-two, a passenger plane hit a bridge over the Potomac River.
The plane had just taken off for Florida. With it wings weighed down with ice, the plane failed to climb quickly enough. It crashed into Fourteenth Street Bridge and then dropped into the Potomac. Parts of the river were covered in ice.
Seventy-nine passengers and crew were on the flight. Only five of them survived. Four people on the bridge were also killed.
One of the passengers on the plane came to be called the "unknown hero." He could have been saved, but he repeatedly handed a helicopter rescue line to others. Then, when the helicopter came back for him, he was gone in the icy waters.
The unknown hero was later identified as Arland Williams Junior, a bank examiner. He was the only victim of the Air Florida crash whose death was blamed on drowning.
The bridge was renamed in his honor. And President Ronald Reagan presented the Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal to the family of Arland Williams.
Someone else who received a Gold Lifesaving Medal was Roger Olian, a sheet-metal worker in Washington. Roger Olian jumped into the river with the end of a lifeline that people on shore had made out of clothes and other materials.
Unable to see through the snowstorm, he followed the screams of the survivors. He reached people hanging onto the broken tail of the plane.
The storm and heavy traffic slowed the arrival of emergency services.
Don Usher was a helicopter pilot with the United States Park Police. He flew close to the water and ice, through the blinding snow, to look for survivors. With him was Gene Windsor, a Park Police officer with special medical training.
It was almost impossible to see. But they rescued two people who could hold onto the helicopter lifeline long enough to be pulled to shore. Mister Windsor also jumped into the water to save one woman too weak to hold the line.
The National Transportation Safety Board recognized the actions of the only crew member who survived the crash. Flight attendant Kelly Duncan gave the only flotation device she could find to someone else.
From the side of the river, a federal worker named Lenny Skutnik saw another woman in the water. He jumped into the river, swam to her and got her to shore.
The rescue was filmed and shown on the news. Two weeks later, President Reagan introduced Lenny Skutnik during his State of the Union speech to Congress.
Mister Skutnik received a Gold Lifesaving Medal from the Coast Guard. But to this day, as he told the Washington Post, he says he was not a hero, just someone who helped another human being.
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Monday 10 November
By charlie
lets get the facts straight.the only time anyone died for freedom was the civil war,ww 1,WW2.all other wars were not wars.they were political agenda conflics for either population control or oil.there were more american forces killed in vietnam by there own freindly fire than any enemy.and who controled the fireing?the elite!they never found any weapons of mass destruction,so the elite needed to justify a military force in the middle east.so"THEY"blew up the wold trade center useing there long time freind bin lauden!
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Monday 10 November
By rb
charlie....put hte crackpipe down!
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