![Shavarsh Vladimiri (Vladimirovich)[ 1] Karapetyan (Armenian: Շավարշ Կարապետյան ; born May 19, 1953) is a retired former Sovie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Shavarsh_Karapetyan_2014.jpg "Shavarsh Karapetyan - Wikipedia")
Shavarsh Karapetyan - Wikipedia
Shavarsh Vladimiri (Vladimirovich)[ 1] Karapetyan (Armenian: Շավարշ Կարապետյան ; born May 19, 1953) is a retired former Soviet finswimmer, best known for saving the lives of 20 people in a 1976 incident in Yerevan.[ 2]
Karapetyan was born on May 19, 1953, in Armenia's third largest city of Kirovakan (now called Vanadzor again), then part of the Soviet Union. His family moved to Yerevan in 1964, where Shavarsh finished eight years of school and then attended a technical school for auto-mechanics. On the advice of family friends, he started to learn swimming at a young age. He later switched to finswimming. In 1975–1976, Karapetyan served in a Soviet Air Defence Forces base in the Baku military district.[ 3]
In 1974 Shavarsh was riding a bus when the driver pulled over to check on a mechanical problem. The engine was left running and the bus suddenly started rolling down towards a mountain gorge. Karapetyan broke down the partition separating the passengers from the driver's compartment, he then took control of the steering wheel and turned the bus away from the cliff.[ 2]
