An Indian-origin man in the UK has been chosen for a special award due to his bravery in helping a 7-year-old Australian boy during last year’s Barcelona attack.
Sydney boy Julian Cadman died in the attack when a van struck pedestrians in Barcelona, Spain on 17 August last year. The 7-year-old was travelling with his mother for a wedding who also got seriously injured in the attack.
Harry Athwal of Birmingham, will be honoured for his bravery at the Pride of Birmingham Awards this week.
Mr Atwal, a project manager, was in Spain with his friends and family when the Las Ramblas attack happened that killed 13 people and injured over a hundred.
He was pictured kneeling next to a child, on the road comforting him in the aftermath of the attack. Mr Atwal defied police ordered to evacuate the area and kept holding on to the boy until emergency services arrived.
Mr Athwal said he has an eight-year-old son and he was drawn to help the boy.
Source: AAP
After his return to Birmingham, he recounted the events speaking to ITV.
“It’s something I will never forget. It will stay with me until my dying day. I think the last couple of nights, trying to sleep, it goes around in your head."
The BBC reported that Cadman’s family asked to meet Mr Athwal in September last year.
Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, Mr Athwal said it was his duty as a “Sikh to help somebody who is hurt or who is being bullied.”
“That, in a sense, overtook me. I didn’t have time to think.”
"At that moment you have a split second to decide what you are going to do. It was my instinct that I had to go and help somebody. I had to do something. It's in my DNA," he said.
The 45-year-old says he has since been in touch with Cadman’s grandparents who have thanked him for helping their grandson.
Athwal is among 11 winners who will be presented the awards on March 8.
