A young girl was seriously injured earlier this week when she was involved in a car accident. The 4-year-old was a passenger, secured in child safety seat, in a Ford Explorer driven by her father. The motor vehicle accident occurred on Sunken Valley Road shortly after noon. The SUV apparently landed in a creek, partially submerged, upside down after he lost control of it on a patch of ice on the road that was gravel.

Fortunately, employees of a construction company, located near the scene of the accident who were on their way to their place of employment, noticed damage that was done to a guardrail where the car hit it. They then noticed the SUV. At that time, the girl’s father was outside of the car, but in the creek calling for help. He told them his daughter was still in the vehicle which by that time was almost completely submerged in water.

The men were in a company truck that had towing equipment which they were able to use to pull the SUV partially out of the creek. At that point, two other men employed with the same company appeared. One of them was able to get the young girl out of the vehicle.

The child was not breathing and was unconscious when she was pulled out. Several of the construction workers took turns performing CPR (training for which is required by the construction company) on the girl. She was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. The status of her injuries is unknown.

The girl’s 29-year-old father was also hurt in the incident, though his injuries were characterized as minor.

Source: Leader Times, “Girl, 4, seriously hurt when SUV rolls into creek,” Brigid Beatty, Feb. 14, 2012