The_Other_Admin
11th September 2005, 19:41
I hope this incident bring brings among the two main sects in Islam.
A Sunni Arab teenager who died saving Shias during last week's stampede disaster in Baghdad has been hailed as a hero whose sacrifice should unify Iraq.
Othman al-Ubeydi drowned after rescuing at least three people who tumbled into the Tigris when Shia pilgrims panicked at rumours of a suicide bomber among them, leading to 1,005 deaths.
....While hundreds were crushed to death on the bridge, hundreds more jumped or fell into the river. Witnesses said that the teenager, a strong swimmer and wrestler who trained at a gym, repeatedly dived in and saved between three and seven people. However he was exhausted when he tried to save a large woman, and she reportedly pulled him under.
Iraq's government and media called Mr Ubeydi a martyr of national unity whose heroic sacrifice should reconcile Shias and Sunnis, rival Muslim sects which have edged towards civil war.
"He showed that we are all brothers," said the Shia prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, while visiting the family.
Mr Ubeydi's father, Ali, said that his studious son had passed the supreme test of humanity, setting an example for the country. "He turned his soul into a bridge to save others."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1562729,00.html
A Sunni Arab teenager who died saving Shias during last week's stampede disaster in Baghdad has been hailed as a hero whose sacrifice should unify Iraq.
Othman al-Ubeydi drowned after rescuing at least three people who tumbled into the Tigris when Shia pilgrims panicked at rumours of a suicide bomber among them, leading to 1,005 deaths.
....While hundreds were crushed to death on the bridge, hundreds more jumped or fell into the river. Witnesses said that the teenager, a strong swimmer and wrestler who trained at a gym, repeatedly dived in and saved between three and seven people. However he was exhausted when he tried to save a large woman, and she reportedly pulled him under.
Iraq's government and media called Mr Ubeydi a martyr of national unity whose heroic sacrifice should reconcile Shias and Sunnis, rival Muslim sects which have edged towards civil war.
"He showed that we are all brothers," said the Shia prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, while visiting the family.
Mr Ubeydi's father, Ali, said that his studious son had passed the supreme test of humanity, setting an example for the country. "He turned his soul into a bridge to save others."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1562729,00.html