National Guard officer dies in Tashkent while attempting to rescue drowning woman

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — A National Guard serviceman tragically lost his life in Tashkent during a courageous attempt to rescue a woman who was being swept away by the rapid current of the Bozsu canal, near the "Khotira Khiyoboni" (Memory Alley) memorial complex. The fatal incident was initially reported by the local television program Millar.

According to Asror Masurov, the head of the press service for the Tashkent City Department of the National Guard, patrol officers on duty noticed a woman trapped in the turbulent water and visibly struggling against the heavy flow. Assessing the immediate threat to her life, one of the servicemen jumped into the canal without hesitation to pull her ashore.

However, due to the exceptionally high speed of the water current and a powerful whirlpool that formed in that segment of the canal, the rescue attempt proved unsuccessful, and the woman disappeared beneath the surface. The responding serviceman was also pulled under by the severe undercurrents and was unable to fight his way back to the bank.

The woman's body was recovered by emergency response teams later that same day and released to her family members. A large-scale, coordinated search and rescue operation involving specialized Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) diving units was launched immediately to locate the missing serviceman. Following nearly 24 hours of continuous searching, recovery teams located and retrieved the soldier's body from the water.

According to details provided in the Millar broadcast, the deceased National Guard member was 21 years old (born in 2005). Officials noted that the young serviceman was engaged, and his wedding was scheduled to take place in the near future.

The tragic incident has renewed warnings from emergency services regarding the high velocity and hidden undertows of Tashkent's internal canal networks. Earlier, in a separate rescue incident in the Chirchik area of the Tashkent region, MES emergency crews successfully intervened to extract a citizen who was being carried away by a similarly hazardous river current.