Seven-year-old Chase Poust is hailed by both rescue crews and others after he swam for over an hour to get help for his father and sister.
The family was on a boat trip on the St. John’s River in Jacksonville, Florida, when the accident happened. The children swam in the river, while their father Steven Poust fished, writes the TV channel WKXT.
Little sister Abigail was wearing a life jacket and holding on to the grouse while she bathed, when the current suddenly became too strong and she slipped on the roof. Chase swam to get Abigail, but failed. Father Steven also jumped into the water to catch the children who were drifting down the river.
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The father tells the channel that he was unable to hold on to both children and that Chase therefore went swimming towards the shore since he is the only one who could swim.
– I was very scared, says Chase himself to the channel.
– I love them
It was the father too.
– I told them I love them, because I did not know what was going to happen. I tried to hold the roof in both, but it got too heavy. She started drifting away, says her father.
– The current went the opposite way towards the boat and the shore, so it was very difficult to swim that way, says the seven-year-old, who says that he got ashore using a mixture of dog swimming and lying on his back to save energy.
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After driving one and a half kilometers down the river, another boat heard his father’s screams and he and his daughter came to the rescue.
– Lillemann also came ashore and provided help and that was what saved our lives, says the father.
– All resources
At a press conference, Eric Prosswimmer of the fire department said CBS47 that they found the boat lying at anchor in the middle of the river without anyone on board, and thus began a search for the family.
“We had all the resources we could have on the way to the place quickly, and we are happy that all three have been rescued, so that all three are well,” Prosswimmer said at the press conference.
– We could not have asked for a better outcome, he says.
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