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View Full Version : Man forced to choose between saving his wife or son, 13



CarlosDJackal
11-30-09, 15:20
I feel for this guy. I can't even imagine how excruciating this choice was.

Link to Original Article (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,577945,00.html?test=latestnews)

Man Forced to Choose Who to Save: Wife or Son

Monday, November 30, 2009

It is the choice no parent — or spouse — should ever have to make.

When New Zealand woman Vanessa Horton crashed her car into a river near the family home, her husband had to make the excruciating choice between saving her or resucing his son, who was trapped in the sinking car.

Silva Horton, 13, drowned in New Zealand's Whanganui River on Saturday night after the car, in which he was a front-seat passenger, came off the road and cartwheeled down a steep 32 foot bank into the water.

His father, Stacy, arrived from their nearby home in Whanganui, on North Island, less than two minutes after the crash to hear his wife screaming in the darkness and the family Mazda submerged, nose-down, three feet under the surface.

As his wife floundered in the water, Horton tried to dive down to the car to rescue his son, but said he could not reach the teenager.

"I tried to get down and get him but I couldn't, it was just too deep. And Vanessa was going under," Mr Horton told the Dominion Post newspaper.

"I made a call to pull my wife to safety. I looked back and I could see the tail-lights but it was too far and I couldn't get him," he said.

kwelz
11-30-09, 16:12
My mind can't comprehend making that kind of decision. My sympathy to this man and his wife. Their lives will never be the same again. :(

ST911
11-30-09, 17:11
The mother in my house would demand that I save her child before her.

I would expect the same.

It'll be little comfort for him, but he did what he could. God's Peace upon him.

ZDL
11-30-09, 19:07
***********

Cameron
11-30-09, 19:07
He really didn't make a choice, he tried to save his kid and couldn't reach him so pulled his wife out.

No matter who got saved a terrible day.

I have driven that road many times.

Cameron

Artos
11-30-09, 20:11
The mother in my house would demand that I save her child before her.

I would expect the same.

It'll be little comfort for him, but he did what he could. God's Peace upon him.


Knowing the love my wife has for our 2 kids, I'm 100% in agreement with your post. Just too ugly & blocking the urge to put myself in his place. :(

Spoon
12-01-09, 01:50
I can not imagine with they are going through right now:(. But I probably would have freaked out and pulled the person closest to me out.

Irish
12-01-09, 01:54
What a horrible position to be in... It sounds like he did the best he possibly could in the situation. RIP and hope the parents recover quickly.

SteyrAUG
12-01-09, 02:22
And this is why everyone needs to know how to swim.

So your wife can swim herself to safety, I'm assuming here she didn't have some kind of injury that prevented her from saving herself of course.

So the son could swim himself to safety, and here again I'm assuming he was conscious, uninjured and not too panicked to get out of the car.

And so the father can swim down 5 feet to rescue his son.

Now so this isn't misunderstood, I'm willing to accept that he did the best he could in a shitty situation and might be lucky to have been able to just save his wife. But no matter what he is gonna spend the rest of his life playing "what if" and if he wasn't a competent swimmer that is really gonna mess with him.

I hope I'm never in such a situation.