Two quick-thinking passengers, including an Indian engineer without a driving license, successfully averted a major disaster on a Swedish motorway on Sunday after their bus driver fainted at the wheel. The vehicle, carrying approximately 50 passengers, was traveling at high speed when the dramatic rescue unfolded.
The incident occurred just before 2:00 PM on Sunday, August 17th, on a motorway about 30 minutes outside the southern Swedish city of Jönköping. The driver of the bus suddenly lost consciousness while his foot remained pressed down on the accelerator, leaving the heavy vehicle careening out of control. Amid the panic and screams of passengers, two individuals stepped forward to seize the controls and guide the bus to a safe halt.
Niranjan Nithyanandam, an engineer originally from the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, was one of the passengers who intervened. Nithyanandam, who moved to Sweden in August 2020 to pursue his studies, was listening to music on his phone when he noticed another passenger moving from her seat. Initially assuming she was heading to the restroom, he was startled when she began screaming for help as the bus began scraping against the roadside guardrails.
"I got up immediately after, then tried to wake up the driver along with the lady, but the bus was going out of control, so she started to focus on the steering at that point," Nithyanandam recalled. The other passenger was Maria Hjelte, a woman in her 60s whose surname coincidentally translates to "hero" in Swedish.
As the chaos intensified, passengers began shouting for someone to hit the brakes. However, reaching the pedals proved nearly impossible. "The driver was a big guy blocking access – I couldn't even get his foot off the gas, so we were still going about 70 km/h," Nithyanandam explained. Standing in an awkward position to reach the controls made steering extremely difficult. "The steering wheel was very sensitive, especially from standing in our position, so we went too far to the left and broke through the median divider. I could see oncoming cars, and I was scared we would crash into them."
Working together, Nithyanandam and Hjelte managed to steer the bus back into their own lane. During the struggle, they noticed that scraping against the median barrier caused the bus to lose speed. Utilizing this, they deliberately continued to steer the vehicle into the barrier to gradually slow it down.
The strategic friction worked. "At that point, the driver slowly regained consciousness. He braked fully and opened the door, and we got off the bus," Nithyanandam said, describing the immense wave of relief that swept over everyone once the vehicle finally came to a standstill. Both rescuers noted that they acted entirely on instinct, with their minds going completely blank as they fought to control the runaway bus.
Reflecting on the terrifying ordeal, Nithyanandam admitted he felt deeply anxious during the crisis due to his lack of driving experience. "I was feeling scared that I didn't know the right things to do," he said. "I don't even have a driving licence. I looked back to see no one else helping and I really needed someone to tell me what to do. I am very glad that the other person was there helping in the end."
Since the incident, Nithyanandam has received a flood of attention from colleagues, friends, and Swedish media outlets. While he is grateful for the support, he admits the sudden spotlight has been somewhat overwhelming. "My friends and my coworkers all were glad that I was not injured in any way and relieved that the outcome was miraculously good," he said. He added that the full gravity of the danger has not yet completely sunk in, noting, "I keep replaying the exact few minutes, how crazy and surreal it felt. I was analysing a bit later, trying to think if there was anything better I could have done, that I could have reacted sooner since I was on the aisle seat in the end."
Local authorities have highly praised the actions of the two passengers. Mats Pettersson, a press spokesperson for the eastern policing region, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper that a major tragedy was narrowly avoided. "It is an immense stroke of luck that this happened on a section of road with a median barrier. Otherwise, things could have gone very, very wrong," Pettersson said. He commended the pair's quick thinking, adding, "They showed an incredible presence of mind. They did a fantastic job. They managed to bring the bus to a stop, and if they hadn't succeeded… you don't even want to think about it. There were lots of children on the bus as well."
