This is the moment a daring driver of an excavator drives his vehicle across an overflowing stream in a mountain to rescue a group of villagers. <br /><br />As the stranded villagers climb into his bucket, he manages to drive back to safety. <br /><br />The current is powerful enough to sweep away the excavator down a cliff.<br /><br />The incident took place in Bharmour subdivision of Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, India, on July 1. <br /><br />The stranded men were returning to their village in a bus when a rivulet started overflowing due to heavy rains. They were forced to get down and wait for the current to subside. <br /><br />It was then they requested an excavator driver, who was clearing the road nearby, to help them cross the rivulet. The man obliged and undertook the daring mission. <br /><br />But local residents and media slammed the driver for risking people’s lives and the government for its indifference. <br /><br />Rakesh Sharma, 34, a resident of nearby Chamba, said: “There are many places in this district which turn as dangerous as this during monsoons.”<br /><br />“People have demanded that all-weather bridges be built in these spots but the government has failed to respond.”<br /><br />Local officials disowned any responsibility for the incident.<br /><br />Ashish Semwal, an official of National Disaster Management Authority, Chamba, said the video had been heavily edited and is not from Bharmour. “The incident never took place here,” he said.
