Seoul: South Korean firefighters participating in a training course in the United States have received a message of gratitude from local fire authorities for their rescue activities at a highway traffic accident scene they happened to encounter, the National Fire Agency said Tuesday. The incident occurred at around 10:50 p.m. last Friday (local time), when five Korean firefighters who had been in the U.S. state of Colorado participating in nine-day swift water rescue training witnessed the traffic accident on their way back to their hotel.
According to Yonhap News Agency, a truck crashed head-on into a sedan on a highway near Denver, and one of the cars overturned, trapping a passenger inside. The Korean firefighters immediately secured the scene, called 911, and pulled the passenger out of the truck. Upon discovering he was in cardiac arrest, they began CPR, rotating compressions until local rescue crews arrived.
The Adams County Fire Rescue in Colorado expressed gratitude to the Korean firefighters in its social media post. "Although the patient did not survive, we are incredibly grateful to these firefighters for their swift response," the post said. "Their actions are a powerful reminder of the importance of knowing CPR. If you haven't taken a class yet, it's a skill that can save lives, and you never know when you will have an opportunity to use it."