LOGAN, Utah — A Utah family is full of gratitude for the people who saved them after their vehicle ended up overturned in Logan River, quickly filling with water.
“I remember the water coming up inside the cab,” Jed Al-Mari said.
On Thursday, he was driving down Logan Canyon in his truck with his wife, Kathleen and their grandchildren Ridge and Darby.
The canyon had recently been paved, and it was raining, bringing oil up to the paved surface.
“There’s nothing you can do. You can feel the whole truck going and there’s no way to stop it, and that’s when I said, 'We’re going in,'” Jed said.
The truck went off the road and flipped upside down into the Logan River.
“I thought about the kids, so I tried to find the kids and I couldn’t find the kids,” Jed said. “I was taking in water. I remember trying to push water out of my mouth and I couldn’t get rid of it.”
Jed was submerged and fell unconscious.
Outside the truck, six men who saw the accident jumped into the water to start pulling the family to safety.
“This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening,” Kathleen remembered saying. She was the first pulled from the truck, frantically looking for her grandkids.
“I remember such relief when I turned and I saw Ridge," she said. "I saw his face and he was half out of the truck."
Kathleen and Ridge were passed from person to person back to the shore. Jed, unconscious, was pulled out next. A bystander starting performing CPR on the side of the road, but Darby was still trapped, her head inside a small air pocket.
“When I heard the voices, I yelled so they would know where I was,” Darby said.
Then she felt a hand reach down, help her undo her seatbelt and pull her free.
“The first thing I thought was how happy I was to see another face,” she said.
The whole family was finally safe.
“This is our whole world. You know, our family is our whole world,” Kathleen said.
Jed has broken ribs from receiving CPR. The others only have bumps and bruises.
The family said they want to thank the people who stopped to pull them free, the first responders who helped and the caretakers at the hospital.
“There’s a lot of things that are very important. Family, number one," Jed said. "There’s a lot of good people around. I think it doesn’t matter where you are, there’s a lot of good people."
