A young boy is being praised for helping save his dad and little sister by swimming to shore and calling for help after the family got caught in a powerful current during a holiday trip on Florida’s St. Johns River.
The boy’s dad, Steven Poust, said that he anchored his boat in the river while he fished while his son Chase, 7, and his daughter, Abigail, 4, were playing.
Chase said the current was too powerful for his sister to hold onto the boat, and he also jumped off to help her. Thankfully, Abigail was wearing a life jacket.
Their father went into the water to fetch her and Chase started making his way toward shore.
“I told them I loved him because I wasn’t sure what’s going to happen,” the father said. “I tried to stick with both of them. I wore myself out. She drifted away from me.”
Even though it was a difficult swim, Chase didn’t give up until the end.
“The current was going the opposite way of going to the boat and the shore so it was very hard to swim that way,” he said.
It took Chase a whole hour to get to shore, and as soon as he reached it, he ran to the nearest house to call for help.
Rescue services found the father and daughter about a mile from their boat.
“I screamed for help at the top of my lungs and waved my arms and sure enough someone heard us,” the father said. “Little man also made it to shore and got help and that’s what saved our lives.”
Firefighter Eric Prosswimmer said neither the boy nor the father were required to wear a life vest. The law applies to kids aged 6 and under for a boat under 26 feet long.
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