He drove non-stop to get his Covid-suffering mate the much-needed oxygen cylinder. What a lad
Devendra Kumar Rai, 34 from Jharkhand in India, drove approximately 1,4000 kilometres to pick up an oxygen cylinder for his mate whose supply was running dangerously low.
Rajan Kumar Singh is currently battling a coronavirus infection and called Rai in need of urgent help in the middle of the night on April 25, informing him he was unable to refill his oxygen cylinder and that his tank wouldn't last.
So, like the true hero that he is, Rai hopped on his bike and rode from his home to Bokaro, where he was able to acquire the emergency cylinder from a friend who owned an oxygen gas plant. From there he went on to ride for another 1,2000 kilometres (give or take) to Noida so he could deliver it to his friend. Now that's friendship.
Mr. Rai told
The Independent he and Singh had been "were born in the same hospital and have been friends since then. We did our schooling together but were in different colleges after which he came to Noida,” and when asked about his herculean efforts, he said: “There was nothing to ask anyone. My friend needed my help and I had to come”.
Rai went on to say that although the pair always speak “regularly over the phone every few days [...] we met after a gap of three years" and has now promised to be there until his friend fully recovers. Singh's wife is currently six months pregnant and has to be by his side constantly; he cannot find a bed given the ongoing strain on India's hospitals.
While cases, testing, vaccine rollouts and more are improving across various countries in the world, India is one of those still desperately struggling to survive the pandemic. With a double-mutated variant and a lack of funding throughout their infrastructure, the nation have reached
a record number of deaths,
