A Melbourne boy was sucked into a flooded storm drain and swept under the road for 10 metres by “extraordinary currents” before a miraculous rescue.
An 11-year-old boy has been miraculously rescued after he was sucked into an overflowing storm drain and dragged for 10 metres under a Melbourne road.
The current was powerful, but the boy managed to grab the underside of a metal grate and hold on, barely keeping his head above water until help arrived.
“When we arrived the boy was fully submerged and he was literally clinging to the grate by his fingernails so he wasn’t sucked underground,” First Constable Peter Ivory told the ABC. Ivory was one of the responders who pulled the boy out of the drain.
“The force of the water was extraordinary.”
The boy was riding bikes with his friend at Altona Meadows when he accidentally rolled over a submerged drain on Thursday afternoon.
The first boy was swept away under the road, but his friend managed to escape the rushing water.
Melbourne boy rescued after being swept into flooded storm drain
The current was moving quickly, but the boy caught a lucky break when his bike helmet became momentarily stuck on a grate, giving him time to grab hold.
A passer-by and an off-duty SES member rushed on the scene and were quickly joined by police from Williamstown.
They didn’t have much time. By the time the SES member managed to get the bolts out of the grate to free the boy, he was already submerged in the water.
Constable Ivory was able to force the grate open and pull the boy out of the water.
“I love you all,” he told his rescuers.
Later on, he told the ABC of his harrowing ordeal.
“I was trying to get up but I couldn’t because the current was too strong,” he said.
“When it took me down, I was like, ‘I’m not ready to go, I don’t want to go to heaven, and that’s why I tried to get out.”
Constable Ivory spoke highly of all the rescuers involved, particularly the passer-by who apparently had no experience in “dynamic situations” such as Thursday’s.
“They are truly the heroes of this story,” he said.
