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IIT Kanpur Student Uses Basic Engineering Knowledge To Help Save A Passenger’s Life Mid-Air

byKrishna Tanna
11th May 2018
3 minute read
IIT Kanpur

Engineers and people studying engineering usually hate it. It doesn’t help that there are so many dank memes about the field and almost everyone jokes about it.

But not this time.

21-year-old, final year B-Tech student Karttikeya Mangalam from IIT Kanpur used engineering knowledge he acquired in college to help save the life of a man who suffered diabetes-related complications in mid-air.

In a story he shared in IIT Kapur’s in-house magazine, he narrates how he helped a Dutch passenger on his flight to New Delhi from Geneva via Moscow who suffered high sugar in the middle of the journey.

He wrote:

“His name was Thomas who was about 30 years old. He had Type 1 diabetes since the age of 11 and usually always carried his insulin pump with him. However, he was required to take off his pump for security check at Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow and forgot to collect his equipment from the deposit tray in a hurry.“

 

The doctor, who also thankfully on-board the same flight, was also a diabetes patient. He had insulin as well as “pen-esque contraption” used to inject insulin. However, Thomas’ insulin cartridges did not fit on the doctor’s pen.

“The Russian doctor’s insulin cartridges, of course, did load properly but contained a long-term slow-working insulin; chemically different from what Thomas usually took.”

They decided to use the doctor’s cartridges anyway and you’d think all was taken care of. But there’s more.

An hour later, Thomas had passed out with some white foam forming at his mouth. It could have been because he must have developed resistance to the other insulin over the years.

The doctor was panicking because he believed that there was a severe risk to his life. The air-hostess announced they were going to make an emergency landing at Afghanistan-Kazakhstan.

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To top it all, the doctor’s pen used to inject insulin had stopped working.

Mangalam asked to look at the pen and requested the air-hostess to give him access to the business class’ premium Wi-fi. He studied the pen’s manual and disassembled it while counting the parts.

According to the manual, there are 13 parts while his pen only had 12. He discovered that the missing part was a spring and he searched the area around Thomas for the missing spring.

He then asked fellow passengers for ball-point pens and found 3-4 of them.

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Eventually, he reassembled the pen and gave it to the doctor who then injected the right insulin for Thomas. He informed the air-hostess that landing won’t be necessary and Thomas will wake up in a few hours.

Both Thomas and Mangalam were shifted to business class – one for his condition, the latter as his caretaker.

Sure enough, Thomas gained consciousness and Mangalam told him what happened. He even helped the Dutch national to get to a hospital since it was his first time to India.

Mangalam said,

“This incident has made me realise the importance of the basic engineering skills we are taught in our freshman year here. I think saving a man’s life is more than what anyone could ever imagine achieving from the basic engineering knowledge endowed in that year.”

People commended him for his presence of mind and quick actions in helping to save a life.

1. Shekhar Gupta called it ‘inspirational’. Truly, it is.

2. Then we can all get the chance to save lives.

3. We really are proud of you.

Thomas owns a restaurant and brewery in Amsterdam and has invited Mangalam to visit anytime he wants with a promise of lots of lots of free food and beer. Now that, and the relief of having helped in saving someone’s life is a total win for this IIT Kanpur’s student, right?

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