Father: Thankful to passers-by for saving 3 children trapped in car submerged in Utah river

Associated Press, Jan 2, 2012

LOGAN, Utah [....] “In a second, I was completely off the road and sliding down the embankment,” he said. “Within a second, the entire cabin of the vehicle was full of water.” He struggled to free the children from their seatbelts, but couldn’t get them loose, and he had to breathe. “I decided the best thing was to get out of the car and get air,” he said.

“In no less than 10 seconds, there were a half-dozen men standing on the banks of the river, and they’re questions to me were, ‘Who else was in the car? Within five seconds, there were eight men in the river ... ready to assist,” he added.

The rescuers pulled the children one-by-one from the car and passed them up the river bank to others, where some performed CPR on two of them — his children. They were unconscious and not breathing.  They all loaded up into a friend’s SUV and sped down the mountain for help, but were met about halfway by paramedics [....]