6-year-old Sophia LeBlanc is being hailed a hero after she saved her family from her mom’s car; the car had met with an accident on the road, flipped over, and dipped into an icy river. Matters could have been much worse if the little girl didn’t jump in to rescue her family.
28-year-old Candice Hicks, a student from Nova Scotia, Canada, was driving down the road with her three kids strapped in the back seat. She hit a pothole in the road and lost control of her car. This is when the vehicle flipped over and landed in the river; the river was icy due to the cold weather conditions.
6-year-old Sophia LeBlanc saved her family from her mom’s car after it hit a pothole, lost control, and plummeted into an icy river.
It didn’t take long for the car to start filling up with water, making it harder for her to take her seatbelt off and get to her kids in the back seat. But, the water wasn’t the only thing impairing the panicked mother from getting to her kids; she had also shattered her wrist and couldn’t move it. Talking to iNews, Candice said, “I thought we were going to die. I thought I wouldn’t be able to get my kids out and we would die. The two-year-old was crying and I managed to get my seat belt off, but my wrist hurt and I couldn’t do anything with it.”
Mom, the 28-year-old Candice Hicks, took off her seatbelt and turned to help her kids in the backseat when she noticed that she couldn’t move her wrist, she had shattered it.
But, the scene got even scarier when she looked back and noticed that although Sophia had managed to get her seatbelt out, Elise, her 2-year-old, was stuck within the restraints; Ethan, her 4-year-old son, was knocked unconscious due to the impact of the accident.
Understanding that her mother couldn’t help them, Sophia jumped to the rescue. She unbuckled her seat belt and then helped her 2-year-old sister, Elise, come out of the restraints of her belt. She was stuck there for a while.
Her 4-year-old brother had been knocked unconscious with the impact of the accident.
Understanding that mom couldn’t do much from the front seat, Sophia jumped into action. She helped Elise come out of her seat belt. Then, she climbed on her mom’s back and waded through the river to get to the road and ask passersby for help; Candice stayed with Elise and Ethan who were both still trapped in the car. Candice was thankful for Sophia and her quick-thinking: “Nobody could see us from the road because of the drop. Thank God Sophia managed to wave down a car. I don’t know what I would have done if it was just me in the car with my two other kids.”
Sophia then waded the river on her mom’s back and hailed down passersby to ask for help. Finally, a truck stopped to lend a hand.
The 6-year-old also got a chance to explain the story and how she felt: “My mummy was driving and the car started going cuckoo on the road. We went right down into the river. I was in the back seat and I was so wet. I could touch the roof. My mummy told me to climb the rocks and wave at a car to help us. I’m not allowed to talk to strangers but my mum said it was OK this time. We were lucky because a truck stopped and he came to help us.”
She was awarded the Act of Heroism Award, which is granted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, on January 16, 2019.
Sophia’s actions didn’t go unnoticed.
She was awarded the Act of Heroism Award, which is granted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, on January 16, 2019.
