'Save my baby!' Watch as hero saves girl, 3, and mum from flooded car
"Save my baby!" Those were the words that made heroes Liam Stych and his partner Tia Draper spring to action to save a woman and her three-year-old daughter who had become trapped in fast-flowing floodwater.
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The couple had only stopped to take a quick picture of heavy water flowing through Green Lane, in Hall Green, Birmingham, when they saw the car attempt to drive through a heavy deluge on Tuesday.
The car was quickly overtaken by the heavy current and was washed under a nearby bridge, where Liam and Tia sprung into action to save the occupants.
Talking to the Express & Star, father of two Liam said: "Basically, me and my partner were going for a walk, we was going along the track, we parked up at the flood because I couldn't drive through it.
"We walked across the bridge at this point, then this car came flying down and it got bogged down halfway. It started drifting. I said to her, get your windows down.
"Luckily she managed to get her windows down, the current basically pushed her to the bridge."
Liam, a roadworks engineer, quickly ran to his van to get a set of ratchet straps to tie the car to the bridge to stop it, and its occupants being swept away.
He continued: "I heard her, she was shouting 'Help please, help please, get my child out, she's in the back. It just clicked, it happened so fast,
"I dangled over the wall and water and managed to grab the girl's hand, if we slipped she wouldn't have made it. I threw her over my head and into my partner's arms.
"My partner is five months pregnant, I had to throw her into the arms of my partner. Once the baby was safe I ran to my van to get some ratchet straps. hook it through the open window, and make the car secure."
Still sensing the danger the fast-flowing water posed, Liam and Tia quickly got to work saving the driver of the vehicle.
Liam said: "I could hear the window cracking under the force of the bridge. I was still dangling over the side of the bridge, we had to save the woman.
"I just shouted to her 'Listen and let go of the car and trust me and we will get out of this alive'; she gave me her hand and I can't remember how it happened but yeah, we got her safe."
Liam said it seemed like fate that he and Tia were there, saying that had they not been, the woman and the small girl may not have made it out alive.
He said: "I think God definitely wanted us there, you know. I have said this to everyone though, if my partner wasn't there it wouldn't have been possible. If she wasn't there to catch the kid coming out of the car, I don't think they would have made it. It definitely would have been a fatality.
"It really wouldn't have been possible. It's one of those strange things where it's just the right place at the right time."
He added that he now wishes that people take floodwater more seriously, hoping that drivers note the dangers that fast-flowing water poses not only to themselves but everyone around them.
Liam said: "From this accident, the thing that I wish the most, is that the woman driving that car, and other people, think about the dangers it poses.
"To put a child in that danger, or anyone, it's deadly. A truck wouldn't have made it through that water. Be wise, be more careful, think more. She put her life and other people's lives in danger. Don't risk it."
