First responders formed a human chain to salvage a collection of children’s Christmas gifts from a vehicle after a family was involved in a rollover accident on Interstate 95.
At around 11:45 a.m. on Christmas Day, Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to a crash on southbound I-95.
According to VCSO, a woman and her three children were driving on the highway when the vehicle went off the roadway, struck a pole, rolled, and ended up in ditch with about three feet of water.
The woman and her three children, the oldest of which was around 5 years old, were helped by bystanders and were able to escape the vehicle with minor injuries. The family was transported to a local hospital via ambulance.
Crews were told that all of the family’s Christmas gifts were inside the vehicle and began working to access the submerged vehicle.
A human chain was formed and firefighters passed the gifts to deputies, who moved them to dry land.
Most of the gifts were saved and transported to the VSCO office, where they were sorted, dried, and supplemented with a few extra donated gifts. Deputies then transferred the gifts to the hospital for the children.