A heroic monkey spent 20 minutes performing first aid, attempting to rescue from electrocution a friend who fell on rail tracks after being knocked unconscious by an electric shock while walking on high tension overhead cables at a train station in India.

To the delight of a cheering crowd of commuters that watched the heroic rescue bid from the platform, the monkey, the first known monkey paramedic in history, was able to save his friend from electrocution.

The Indian monkey is being rightly hailed a superhero after rescuing his friend from electrocution and being run over by a train that pulled into the station immediately after the rescue.

Indeed, hopes of resuscitation for the monkey looked dim while the hero monkey struggled frantically to rescue him from dying from electrocution and the imminent danger of being run over by the first train that pulls into the station.

Monkey Hauls Friend From Tracks

The footage shows the hero monkey attempting frantically to revive his friend as he slumps apparently lifeless on the rail tracks. He grabs his unconscious companion and repeatedly bites him in the head, slaps him, hits him and finally dunks him in cold water.

An anxious crowd of sympathetic commuters soon gathered at the train station platform on Saturday in Kanpur, northern India to watch the extraordinary scene of a monkey performing various first aid moves to rescue a friend knocked out cold.

After about 20 minutes of frantic effort, the unconscious monkey began showing first signs of life. He showed first signs of life after being dunked in a pool of water near the tracks.

With assistance from his friend and to the relief of commuters who filmed the incident on their mobile phones, the unconscious monkey soon opened his eyes, got on his feet and moved away, unsteadily, from the track to a safer spot.

Monkey Bites Friend To Revive Him

The hero monkey is seen in the video after the rescue, at the side of the tracks, grooming his friend, who was soggy from being dunked in water.

The incident was a rare demonstration of the saying: A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Some will dispute the conscious intention of the monkey in the video, insisting that he was merely acting from an instinctive and unthinking desperation at the sight of a lifeless companion.

But watch the video once again, and carefully, to assess the behavior of the hero monkey. The animal appears to be acting with consciously directed, determined and intelligent deliberation. Take note of his determined efforts to rescue his friend by pulling him out of the gap between the tracks. Take note of how he pauses in the course of strenuous exertion to gather strength for the act, while looking repeatedly over his shoulder for an incoming train. Watch how he pauses repeatedly, while trying to revive his mate, to reconsider his tactics before resuming frantic efforts to revive his mate.

The monkey appears to be aware that his friend was still alive and that he must act quickly before a train pulls in. The monkey could have been acting from insight derived from experience when he hit on the idea of dunking his friend in water.

Monkey Dunks Friend in Water To Revive Him

It is not unreasonable to ascribe intelligence and self-aware deliberation to a monkey. Monkeys are intelligent primates who, as demonstrated in this video, are capable of insight and introspective deliberation in moments of emergency, such as when an unfortunate friend is in danger of dying from electrocution.