Two people whose SUV crashed into the Rideau River on Friday morning are safe after several others who were in the area rushed into action to rescue them.
Emergency services responded to the single-vehicle collision around 5:50 a.m. at the corner of Riverside Drive and Walkley Road near Mooney’s Bay, according to Ottawa paramedics.
They said an SUV went into the water and that two people inside had made it back to shore. They were assessed by paramedics and released at the scene.
CBC News saw a long silver pole on the road and boats labeled “Ottawa Fire” on the water around 6 a.m. on Friday.
Lesley Tomlinson had been out for a run that morning and was near the intersection when she heard the sound of a car braking and skidding.
She told CBC the SUV had skidded through the intersection, hit the light pole, went over the embankment and crashed into the water.
“I was dumbfounded,” she said.
“There was definitely a moment of panic as to, how do I help these people?” Tomlinson said.
Two other people emerged on the scene to help, she said. One woman came out of a house nearby and called 911, while another woman who’d been in a car behind the SUV pulled over and jumped into the water.
Tomlinson said she watched her help the driver out of the car and then go around to the passenger’s side, yelling: “He can’t swim!”
A former lifeguard, Tomlinson dove into the water. When she reached the car, it was mostly submerged and the passenger was holding onto it.
“I was very assertive and I told him that he was not to touch me, he was not to put his arms around me, that that would mean we would both drown,” Tomlinson recalled.
“I told him that he is going to lie on his back and I am going to hold his head and I’m going to bring him in. … We got him into that position just as the car completely submerged.”
Tomlinson said she swam with him to shore while supporting his head.
Speaking to CBC News afterwards, she said it didn’t hit her how extraordinary the situation was in the moment.
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Tomlinson emphasized that it was a group effort to help, saying the woman who had pulled over and jumped in first was “the real superstar.”
Later that day, Tomlinson went to work as a teacher and told her students about what happened.
“I felt it was so important to impress upon them the ability to swim. The driver was not a strong swimmer but he could keep his head up … the other person couldn’t swim and didn’t know what to do,” she said.
“I really think the takeaway from this whole thing is that you really need basic swimming skills because you never know what situation you’re going to be in.”
Police told CBC on Saturday that the SUV had been recovered from the Rideau River.
