“We have to find her.”
It was a tearful plea after a tragedy. A plea that would soon be answered.
Karin Hohban was on the 269 to Kanata when it crashed into Westboro Station last Friday, leaving three people dead.
Her partner AJ Yantha says, were it not for the actions of a stranger, Karin could have been the fourth victim.
“She saved her life,” he told Newstalk 580 CFRA over the phone. “There were lots of heroes that day. She’s ours. She didn’t have to step up. Everybody else ran the other way, and she ran towards her.”
Yantha says Hohban was sitting on the top level and was pinned under a seat in the crash. Her leg was broken, and she was losing a lot of blood. That’s when the Good Samaritan jumped in to help.
“The lady took her scarf and tourniqueted her leg. It saved her life,” he says. “We don’t know what to say. Thanks isn’t enough. We have to find her.”
That Good Samaritan was found late Thursday night.
After the story aired on CFRA and CTV Ottawa, a woman named Jessica Service recognized the details and reached out.
She told CTVNews.ca she and another passenger saw the trapped woman and worked together to pull her to safety. Her husband had just taken a first aid course and, through their conversations, she knew she had to staunch the flow of blood.
Hohban remains in hospital in serious but stable condition. Service says she was happy to hear the woman she helped to save will pull through.
She says she plans to reach out to Hohban and Yantha.
“I would love to give them a hug and just take one of those big deep breaths with them, because I can’t actually imagine what they’re going through right now,” she said.
With files from CTV Ottawa's Mike Arsalides and CTVNews.ca’s Graham Slaughter.