Shavarsh Karapetyan is a real hero, whom I saw with my own eyes.  (PHOTO)

Vera Belukhina, 66, who saw the passenger trolleybus full of people fall into Yerevan Lake on 16 September 1976, told the aforementioned to Armenian News – NEWS.am.

She was 18 then and had just moved from Russia to Armenia. In Yerevan Vera worked as a trolleybus driver. ''On that day I followed No 15 trolleybus. And suddenly I saw it falling into the lake. I stopped the trolleybus and together with my passengers we ran to that side. It was a rush hour,'' Belukhina said.

She personally helped several wounded citizens.  ''I helped the people, who had already swum out of the lake or those who were taken out from there,'' Vera noted.

The woman driver saw Shavarsh Karapetyan take out people from the water to the lakeside and save their lives. ''I didn't know Shavarsh at that time, but when people began talking about him, I only then realized who he was. He is indeed a hero whom I saw with my own eyes.''

Vera Belukhina's life in Armenia was full of difficulties. She had married an Armenian man and moved from Russia to Armenia together with him. However, her husband soon suffered an accident and died, leaving her all alone. Vera worked as a trolleybus driver for 30 years, after which she appeared in the care home of Yerevan's Nork district.

''It is the second year I have been living in the nursing home. I am sick and have got no apartment, that's why I am here. I like it here very much. It feels like at home: everyone is very nice round here and they treat me very nicely too.  First it was more difficult but I gradually got used to everything. I was missing my friends. But now this is my home,'' the elderly woman said.

She recalls her young years with a smile: ''I always loved my profession and worked with pleasure. I never faced difficulties.  Working as a first class driver, I had students, whom I taught to drive. We were young and everything passed in a very interesting way.  Now everything has changed and it is more difficult to drive. Besides, everyone was surprised to see a woman at the wheel: I was a very beautiful 18-year-old blonde then and everyone couldn't but stare at me. And since drivers were mainly men then, during accidents I was able to get out of the situation very calmly,'' Vera Belukhina confessed.