Florida deputies, firefighters form human chain to recover gifts after mother crashes car in watery ditch
The family suffered only minor injuries from the crash
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Florida deputies and firefighters saved Christmas for one family when they formed a human chain to retrieve presents from a car that ended up in a ditch filled with water after the mother crashed into a pole.
A mother was driving her three young children – with the oldest being about five years old – on Interstate 95 at about 11:45 a.m. on Christmas Day when her vehicle veered off the highway, struck a pole, rolled and ended up in a ditch with about three feet of water, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
Bystanders helped the family out of the vehicle before first responders arrived at the scene.
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Though the family suffered only minor injuries from the crash, the children's Christmas presents remained trapped in the submerged vehicle.
After the victims were transported by ambulance to a local hospital, the deputies and Ormond Beach firefighters used a ladder to reach the vehicle and salvage most of the gifts.
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The first responders formed a human chain on the ladder, with the firefighters passing the presents to deputies, who moved them to dry land.
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"Because of these efforts, deputies were able to transport the gifts to the VSO office, where they were sorted, dried, supplemented with a few extra donated gifts, and then brought to the hospital for the children," the sheriff's office wrote on Facebook.
"[T]his family’s Christmas is a little bit brighter despite the crash," the sheriff's office added.