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Shavarsh Karapetyan

Vladimiri (Vladimirovich)[1] Karapetyan (Armenian: Շավարշ Կարապետյան; born May 19, 1953) is a retired former Soviet finswimmer, best known for saving the lives of 20 people in a 1976 incident in Yerevan.[2] Biography[edit] Karapetyan was born on May 19, 1953, in Armenia's third largest city of Kirovakan (now called Vanadzor again), then part of the Soviet Union. His family moved to Yerevan in 1964, where Shavarsh finished eight years of school and then attended a technical school for auto-mechanics.

Karapetyan broke down the partition separating the passengers from the driver's compartment, he then took control of the steering wheel and turned the bus away from the cliff. [5] Despite the challenging conditions of sewage-infested waters and poor visibility due to silt, Karapetyan dived in and used his legs to kick open the back window of the trolleybus. The combined effect of multiple lacerations from glass shards led to Karapetyan's hospitalization for 45 days,[5] as he developed pneumonia and sepsis.

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