Each day, Amazon India’s delivery associates diligently go about their schedules to make timely deliveries to customers across the country. Friday, July 1, 2022 was no different for Mumbai-based Amazon Flex delivery partner Ravi Bhandari, until he went above and beyond his duty and turned real-life superhero for a 12-year-old girl.

“It was easily the most heart-wrenching experience of my life,” says Ravi, who was en route to making a delivery past Vasant Vihar Municipal School in Thane on Friday morning. When he heard a young child screaming in pain, he immediately parked his motorbike and rushed to the school gate to check what the matter was.

Amid pouring rain, he found a 12-year-old girl by the school gate, crying in pain as a piece of metal had gotten embedded in her cheek. The child had been playing near the school’s gate, which gave way in the rain and a metal protrusion pierced her cheek dangerously close to her eye. “The girl was terrified and any movement on her part could have resulted in a more serious injury,” recalls Ravi. With remarkable presence of mind, Ravi held onto the metal gate for close to 30 minutes, while the school watchman and a local resident came to help.

They contacted the nearby Vasant Vihar municipal hospital for help and a medical team rushed to the spot and was able to successfully remove the metal piece and take the child to the hospital for further treatment.

The incident was first shared on Twitter by Pratik Salunke, a former journalist who witnessed the entire incident, and praised Ravi for his timely action.

Ravi’s quick thinking averted what could have been a horrific tragedy for the young girl. “I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and I can’t stop thinking about what I would have done if, God forbid, something like this happened to her.”