India cricketer Rishabh Pant thankfully survived a horrible car crash in the early hours of December 30, 2022, when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a divider on the Delhi-Dehradun Highway near Roorkee.
Pant managed to escape the car before it burst into flames and was then taken by the police to reach a nearby hospital for first aid and treatment.
He has two cuts on his forehead, a ligament tear in his right knee, and has also hurt his right wrist, ankle, and toe and has suffered abrasion injuries on his back. Pant had apparently dozed off while driving, which led to his speeding car, a Mercedes-AMG GLE43 Coupe, ramming into the divider and causing the crash.
He was later transferred to a specialty hospital in Dehradun and underwent further MRI scans and treatment there.
One of the first people to help Rishabh Pant was a driver named Susheel Kumar, a bus driver, who was driving on the opposite of the road when he saw Pant's car crashing and the force of the impact pushing it to the other side of the road.
Kumar revealed that he also saw that sparks were flying out of the car and it was about to catch fire.
"I am a driver with Haryana Roadways, Panipat depot. Our bus has left Haridwar at 4:25 in the morning. I was on my way when I saw a car, being driven at a lot of speed, got disbalanced and crashed into the divider. After the impact, the car landed on the wrong side of the road - the one that goes to Delhi. The car had screeched onto the second lane of the road seeing which I immediately applied the brakes. The car had already caught sparks so I and the conductor rushed to get him out of the car. By then the fire has started. Then, three more people came running and got him on a safe side," Susheel said as quoted by Hindustan Times.
Pant was trying to break a window to get out and Susheel helped him get to safety. The bus driver added that he didn’t know the person he has helped out was cricketer Rishabh Pant until the player himself identified himself.
He called the ambulance and even tried to call Rishabh’s mother after getting her number from him. He told that Pant’s face was bloodied and his clothes were torn due to the accident and had scratches all over his body due to the car sliding at high speed.
"We began to cry for help but no one came. I called the National Highway, no one answered. Then I ran up the police and the conductor called for an ambulance. We kept asking him he is he fine. Offered him some water. After regrouping, he told us he is Rishabh Pant. I don't follow cricket so I didn't know who he was but my conductor then told me 'Sushil... he is an India cricketer'," added Susheel.
Susheel then said that in meantime, Pant got himself gathered and was limping as well. He also collected the money that was strewn on the road and handed it to Pant.
"He gave us his mother's number. We called her but her phone was switched off. The ambulance arrived after 15 minutes and we got in him. He had also scattered his money on the road, which we picked up and handed them to him in his hands. I asked him if he was alone in the car. He said there is no one. His face was covered in blood and his clothes torn and his back was scratched. He was panicking and limping,” the bus driver added.
BCCI has released an official statement about Rishabh Pant’s accident and confirmed that he is receiving the best possible treatment for his injuries in Dehradun.
(Hindustan Times inputs)
