‘Model’ citizen risks life to pull teens from icy pond

 

Teenagers who were “goofing around” on a Central Park ice pond were saved by two Good Samaritans who witnessed them fall through the thin ice.

On Monday, February 17, seven teens between the ages of 15 and 16 fell into a frozen pond at Central Park in New York. They were saved by Australian model, Ethan Turnbull, 23 and his skateboarding pal, Bennett Jonas, 24.

According to the New York Post, the teens were taking selfies on the icy pond just prior to it cracking beneath them. Cellphone footage captured by Lourdes Cuevas shows the kids desperately trying to climb out of the icy pond while screaming for help.

When Ethan and Bennett noticed the children’s peril while out skateboarding in Manhattan, they dived into the icy waters, in hopes of rescuing the submerged victims.

“I went into the water, he followed me and the first two kids jumped on top of me and I had to get them off”. Ethan exclaimed. “He was just passing the kids at the end and I was just throwing them up and over the fence,” Bennett said.

Working as a team, Ethan and Bennett pulled the children from the pond and brought them to safety. After the ordeal, Bennett recalled how perilous the situation was.

“The last one I didn’t think I was going to be able to get to, the only thing you could see was the back zipper of his backpack. He was gone. And I grabbed the backpack not knowing if there was a body…I didn’t know If he was alive or not.”

Authorities arrived to the scene within a few minutes after the ordeal. The kids were treated for hypothermia. One was hospitalized.

“By venturing onto frozen water, you risk not only your life, but the lives of first responders,” the Fire Department of New York later warned.

Ethan later took to Instagram to express his gratitude for the situation’s outcome. He said that the incident was one of the “toughest situations” he thinks he will ever have to go through.

[Feature Photo: YouTube]