The Drina river takes at least one life every year in the summer months. Recently, in Donji Sepak near Zvornik, this river“swallowed” a young man of Afro-Asian origin. Amir Aganovicfrom Janja has been on the Drina since he was five years old. As he says, he saved at least 15 boys and girls from drowning.
“I have been on the Drina since I was five years old. I was there with my parents, friends, and I can say that I grew up on the Drina. There used to be a lot of people from Brcko, Tuzla here, it was a very big company,” Amir Aganovic, who is also known in Semberija as a persistent environmental activist, recalls his youthful days.
The boys and girls from Janja know the terrain, they know the temper of the Drina, but they also have to be careful because the Drina changes its depth overnight, it is fast and unpredictable.
Several times he was in danger of drowning in the Drina, although he knows every inch of it. He recalls how he saved the life of a girl from Tuzla.
“I saved many people. I remember the very last case. My leg was in an orthopedic cast, my ankle was injured, so I was sunbathing, I couldn’t swim. I looked at two girls from the shore, they were from Tuzla. The girls were 12-13 years old. I watch them treading water up to their knees and suddenly both of them sink. However, this little one came out immediately, and people don’t pay attention that the others are not there. There were several thousand bathers each. So I jumped into the water with a cast, it was about 15 meters from the shore, without thinking about myself, I jumped into the water and looked for her. It was maybe five meters deep. I looked for her and found her at the bottom, I saw her lying and she was already lost,” explainedAmir Aganovic.
He managed to pull the girl to the surface, and then with the help of other swimmers to the shore. After that, he had to go to the hospital again to have his leg casted.
He never counted how many people he saved from certain death.
Also, he mentioned that the bed of the river Drina is changing due to the illegal exploitation of gravel in several locations. He urges citizens not to throw anything into the river, because the water is clean, unlike in some past times. He had the opportunity to live in Germany, go to the United States (U.S.), work in Sweden, but the Drina always draws him to itself, Radio Sarajevo reports.
E.Dz.
