Taxi driver in Philippines helps students stranded amid rising floodwaters, earns praise

Taxi driver helps students stranded amid flood in Philippines

A taxi driver in La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines has earned praise after his heroic acts on Monday afternoon (8 Sept).

Amid rising floodwaters, the man — identified as Mr Michael Aliping — stopped his vehicle multiple times to help elementary school students who were stranded or struggling against the currents.

A clip shared on Facebook shows a student sitting on a concrete barrier, waiting for the flood to subside as vehicles drove past.

Photos shared by another user revealed that the taxi driver later approached the boy and carried him to his vehicle.

According to a post on the village’s Facebook page, Mr Aliping also sent the boy home after the rescue.

Taxi driver helped two other students

Before helping the boy, Mr Aliping also helped two other schoolchildren who struggled in the flood, the post revealed.

One was a third-grade female student whom he brought back to school with the help of his passenger.

The other was an elementary school boy who was struggling to wade through rising waters on an unsafe walkway.

Mr Aliping was reportedly able to catch him before he was swept away by the strong current.

Netizens call taxi driver a “hero”

Netizens praised the taxi driver for his good deeds, calling him a hero.

One user observed that he treated those students as though they were his own children, while another said it was inspiring how he readily put other people’s lives before his own.