A 3-year-old had a miraculous escape when he “drove” his toy truck into a fast-flowing river
A toddler rode his battery-powered toy truck into a river and was then swept eight miles downstream. Demetrius Jones, who has just turned 3, survived by clinging on to his truck and had to be rescued from the 10-foot deep swirling river.Unperturbed, he then told his rescuers he wanted to go back in to get his “boat”. He explained to his parents how he had made his truck into a boat and was able to drive it down the river.Demetrius had crept out of the campsite in British Columbia where his family were staying wearing only a nappy and t-shirt. Campers said they heard him driving his toy truck away. When he was found, he was kneeling in the upside-down truck, with his legs and hands underwater. Demetrius was taken to hospital and treated for mild hypothermia and released soon after. “His trucks mean the world to him,” said his grandma Anita Neudorf, “and I think that’s what saved him. He wasn’t letting go of the truck for love or for money.” The truck was later pulled out of the river and amazingly still works.
