An 18-month-old baby girl named Lily from Spanish Fork, UT was found Saturday morning by emergency crews, after surviving a car crash that took the life of her mother.
The car was noticed around noon on Saturday by a fisherman who alerted authorities; it was upside-down and half submerged in icy cold water amid frigid weather conditions.
The toddler was found in her car seat and submerged in the freezing cold water.
After a team of rescuers flipped the car, Firefighter Paul Tomadakis noticed Lily.
“I could see the baby was under water, and so I reached down inside there, grabbed the baby in my arm, raised its head out of the water, as I tried to release the seat belt with my other hand. When I lifted the head out of water, I could tell obviously she wasn’t breathing, but… there was life,” he told KUTV.
They believe Lily’s mom, 25-year-old Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck drove off the roadway and landed in the river sometime Friday evening, meaning the toddler survived in these conditions for at least 14 hours. Lily was critically injured, but is said to be breathing on her own at a Utah hospital.
It is a miracle this little one survived, especially given the fact that the rescuers on scene were treated for hypothermia themselves.
We wish Lily a full recovery from this devastating accident, she has proven to be a little fighter!
