A COUPLE of US tourists have launched an appeal to track down two Spanish gentlemen who helped rescue them from a holiday nightmare.
Jyothish Rajan, 51, and his wife Mini Kunhiraman, 49, were travelling through southern Spain when the tyre of their rental car suddenly went flat.
The pair of software engineers, who are originally from India but have lived in Connecticut for more than 25 years, managed to pull into a petrol station near the N-340 in Tarifa, but soon discovered they had no spare wheel.
As it was past 7pm on a Saturday, no local mechanics were available while the rental company was not picking up the phone.
Rajan told the Olive Press: “We tried to fill the tyre with air, but it didn’t work. It was getting dark soon and we wanted to reach Malaga before it was too late.
“I went inside the shop and asked for help or if they knew of a nearby mechanic, but the shopkeeper was not very friendly and said we wouldn’t get anyone at that time.”
He said many passersby ‘stopped for fuel and drove off’ without offering to help.
But it was two elderly men ‘in their 70s’ in an adjacent laundromat who noticed they were up a creek without a paddle.
“One was tall with glasses and a big white moustache, and looked like a biker, while the other was short and timid with a clean shave and a friendly smile,” recalled Rajan.
“The two men came over to us, realising that we were looking for help. My wife used the translator app on her phone and asked them if they knew how to fix a flat tire to which one of them said ‘si’… hearing that was such a sigh of relief for us!”
The men patched up the couple’s wheel and told them to drive slowly until they reached Malaga.
Rajan said he offered to pay them €100 in cash but they refused and joked: “Just buy us a beer when we come to New York!”
They hugged them goodbye but in the ‘mad rush’ forgot to get a photo or phone number – so are now hoping to track them down online.
Rajan said: “If anyone knows these two men, please pass on this message: ‘Llegamos sanos y salvos a Malaga. Y nunca olvidare la ayuda que nos brindaron. ¡Dios los bendiga a ambos y muchas gracias!’”. He said anyone with their information should email their contact details to [email protected].
