MARCH 8, 2015
SPANISH FORK, UTAH
Toddler Survives 13 Hours in Upside-Down Car in Frigid Utah
River (ABC News)
An 18-month-old girl was in critical condition today and her
mother is dead after their car crashed in a frigid Utah river and they were not
found for 13 hours, police said.
The car was upside-down when it was discovered at around
12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Spanish Fork River, about 50 miles south of Salt
Lake City, the Spanish Fork Public Safety Department said.
Emergency crews tipped the car on its side and found the
baby in a car seat in the back, officials reported.
"The
baby was in a car seat in the backseat on the passenger side," Lt. Cory
Slaymaker, Spanish Fork Police Departments said. "The vehicle was on its
top, so the car seat could have been out of the water. The car was on the
embankment, so I don't know how much water was getting into the car."
He said the water was so cold that the rescue crew members
could only stay in for short periods of time.
"Where the car was at you couldnt see it from the
roadway," Slaymaker said.
A nearby resident reported hearing something around 10:30
p.m. Friday, but didn't see "anything out of the ordinary," the
public safety department said.
The woman may have hit a cement barrier on a bridge before
driving into the river, officials said, but it is unknown why she left the
road.
Authorities think the child, who was strapped to her car
seat in the back seat of the vehicle throughout the ordeal, was able to survive
temperatures in the upper 20s because of the unlikely way that that the vehicle
landed in the Spanish Fork River.
“It’s miraculous that the child was able to survive,”
Spanish Fork Police Lt. Matt Johnson told The Washington Post. “EMS stated that
due to the way the car flipped into the river, the rear portion of the vehicle
was far enough out of the water that the child was able to remain dry.”
Johnson said that water also was able to flow through the
vehicle instead of sweeping it away.
When a fisherman discovered the vehicle about 12:30
p.m. Saturday, it was resting upside-down in the water, police said.
Authorities arrived a short time later and discovered the toddler strapped in
her car seat, police said. The water was so cold that seven emergency
responders were treated for hypothermia, according to KSTU Fox 13 Salt Lake
City.
A family spokeswoman told the station that doctors said
the child was doing well, considering what she had endured.
After checking the roadway for signs of evasive maneuvers,
investigators are still trying to determine what caused the vehicle to strike a
concrete barrier before plunging 15 to 20 feet off the roadway and into the
river below, police said. Johnson noted that weather was clear at the time of
the accident.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Johnson said. “It’s a tragedy
because of the death of the mother, but we’re very happy that the little girl
survived.”
Three police officers and four firefighters were transported
to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia. Those responders have since been
treated and released.
The Spanish Fork Police Department and Utah Highway Patrol
were investigating the accident.
Source: fox13now.com