Lying in a stream

After an accident: heroes save girls from drowning

A joyride on a quad bike almost ends in tragedy for two very young Carinthian girls - the two girls crash the vehicle over an embankment into a stream. Fortunately, a car happens to be passing by.

Ten and nine years old: those are the ages of the two girls from Wolfsberg who were speeding around on a quad bike without supervision on Saturday afternoon at around 4.30 p.m. - the ten-year-old was at the wheel, her nine-year-old cousin in the back seat. "The vehicle is not licensed for traffic. The girl lost control on a local road for unknown reasons," the police report.

Rescuers arrive at the right time
The girls crash the quad bike down an almost four-meter-high embankment into a stream. While the nine-year-old girl climbs back up the embankment in shock, her cousin remains lying in the stream - her head is under water. When a 71-year-old car drives past the scene, his 56-year-old passenger fortunately sees the quad bike. "The 56-year-old immediately pulled the girl out of the water and, with the help of the 71-year-old, over the embankment onto the road," is how the police describe the heroic rescue.

The girls are taken to hospital
Fortunately, the girl is still conscious but complains of pain. The two rescuers immediately call the emergency services - the parents of both girls arrive at the scene of the accident at the same time. "The nine-year-old was taken to the accident department at Wolfsberg Regional Hospital by her parents in their private car," the police continued. "The ten-year-old was given initial medical treatment at the scene of the accident and then flown to Klagenfurt Hospital in the C11 rescue helicopter."