Mohammad Manik, 28, would visit the banks of the Mal river every year on Dashami and watch, fascinated by the bustle and spectacle of Durga immersions.

This Dashami, he was called on to act. The devout Muslim youth jumped into a turbulent Mal, risking his life to save people who had been caught unawares by a sudden swell in the river, caused by heavy rain in its catchment area.

Eight lives were lost.

But, eyewitnesses said, Manik alone saved at least nine people, among them three children and four women apart from a couple who were clinging to each other as the river threatened to sweep them away.

“I saw people, children as young as my son, being swept away. I couldn’t just stand and watch; so I jumped in and tried my best to rescue people,” the father of a three-year-old boy said from the site of tragedy and heroism in Malbazar town, Jalpaiguri district.

“I can’t give you the exact count but, yes, I did help several people reach the banks,” he told The Telegraph.

“I’m glad that none of the people I rescued are critical.... They had all gulped a lot of water, though.”

Manik, a welder, lives in West Tesimala village, a few kilometres from Malbazar, with his parents, wife, son and younger brother.

Although he is a practising Muslim, he has always taken part in the Durga Puja festivities. “Every year I would visit the immersion site with a friend,” Manik said.

The water began swelling around 8.30pm, shortly after Manik arrived at the site. As he saw people — some who had got into the water with the idols and some who were watching from the banks — getting swept away, he handed over his mobile phone to his friend and dived in.

“People were screaming for help. Whoever I found nearby, I dragged them out of the water. The current was quite strong,” Manik said.

With Manik, the lifejacket-clad civil defence volunteers stationed at the site too jumped in. The fire brigade arrived soon, and the National Disaster Response Force joined in over an hour later.

Manik said he participated in the rescue operation for more than two hours — till about 11pm — helping bring ashore the survivors clinging to rocks in the river or marooned on sandbanks.

“Sometime in between, I realised that my toe (big toe of right foot) was bleeding. A fire-fighter handed me a handkerchief and I tied it round the cut. Then I resumed helping people,” he said.

Eventually, his body gave up. Around 11.30pm, he reached the Mal hospital in an ambulance and received first aid. He then returned home accompanied by a friend.

Manik said he was associated with two civil society organisations that help people by conducting blood donation camps and providing clothes and food to the poor. “Our groups have people from all faiths,” he said.

In a video circulated widely on social media, one of his friends says: “If we had a few more Maniks, there would be fewer casualties. We are proud of him.”

(Additional reporting by our Jalpaiguri correspondent)