Father: Thankful to passers-by for saving 3 children trapped in car submerged in Utah river - The Washington Post

For those of you who hate to click on the story, here's the guts of it [edited]:

Andersen said they were on their way to a ski resort Saturday when the accident happened on a road they’ve traveled hundreds of times. The road didn’t appear icy, at first, but as they made their way up the canyon, it got slicker so he slowed.

But just one tap on the breaks was all it took.

“In a second, I was completely off the road and sliding down the embankment,” he said. “Within a second, the entire cabin of the vehicle was full of water.”

He struggled to free the children from their seatbelts, but couldn’t get them loose, and he had to breathe.

“I decided the best thing was to get out of the car and get air,” he said. “In no less than 10 seconds, there were a half-dozen men standing on the banks of the river, and they’re questions to me were, ‘Who else was in the car?’

“Within five seconds, there were eight men in the river ... ready to assist,” he added.

Former police officer Chris Willden was among the first on the scene. He said he shot out one of the car’s window with his pistol to reach the trapped kids.

“I was trying to grab arms, but I couldn’t feel anything,” Willden said. “I’m thinking ... ‘What are we going to do?’”

He turned to see at least eight other people had scrambled down the 10-foot embankment along U.S. 89 to help.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘You’re going to see some dead kids, get ready,’” Willden said. “I’ve got three of my own and it was going to be (an awful) start to the New Year.”

One of the girls had found an air pocket but was trapped by her seat belt. Willden cut it with a pocket knife and pulled her from the rear passenger window. The two other children soon followed.

The rescuers pulled the children one-by-one from the car and passed them up the river bank to others, where some performed CPR on two of them — his children. They were unconscious and not breathing.

They all loaded up into a friend’s SUV and sped down the mountain for help, but were met about halfway by paramedics, Andersen said. His two children were flown to a hospital in Salt Lake City, treated for hypothermia and released on Monday. The family friend also was treated and released.