Community | January 13, 2011 | 6 comments

13 Year Old Boy Drowns After Begging Rescuers to Save 10 Year Old Brother First.

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg9IQv63iYs&feature=player_embedded

keithponder
TOOWOOMBA, Australia -- A teenager who was scared of water drowned in the Queensland floods after begging rescuers to save his younger brother first.

Jordan Rice, 13, and his mother Donna, 43, were swept away as a wall of water hit the town of Toowoomba on Monday afternoon.

His family has hailed the youngster's selfless actions.

"Jordan can't swim and is terrified of water," his father, John Tyson, told local newspaper The Toowoomba Chronicle. "But when the man went to rescue him, he said 'save my brother first.'

"I can only imagine what was going on inside to give up his life to save his brother, even though he was petrified of water. He is our little hero."

Rice was taking Jordan and his 10-year-old brother Blake to buy school uniforms when the family car became stuck in floodwaters.
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6 comments // 13 Year Old Boy Drowns After Begging Rescuers to Save 10 Year Old Brother First. // Video

  • bailey78
  • Stoneyroad
    • +5
      Stoneyroad  

    • This reminds me of the saying "he ain't heavy he's my brother"
      That saying is misused alot in pop culture.
      It comes from a depression era newspaper article about a young boy who carried his polio stricken brother on his back everywhere he went.
      When the reporter asked how he could carry such a heavy weight on his back everyday, the boy replied 'he ain't heavy, he's my brother'

      Good siblings step up to fill the role of protector or care taker, great siblings, in times of danger, think of your saftey before their very own.

    • 1 year ago
  • vicgal
  • keithponder
    • +7
      keithponder  

    • As a child, my older brother was the same way. We had gone on a family outing to Alamogordo River in Alamogordo New Mexico. I step on a rock that was covered with moss, lost my footing, and was being swept down the river in a moments notice. I was only 9 years old, and the current was too strong for me to swim against and I was going under real fast. I can still remember this happening just like it was yesterday.. My old brother, without hesitation, dove in towards me and just barely was able to grab my wrist. He brought me back to the river bank. He could have easily lost his life too in the process.He told me to stop fighting, get on his back, and paddle my feet. The irony was that my father stood closely by and did nothing but yell at me for being in the water when my brother pulled me out.

      That story never changed. My brother has bailed me out of other situations as an adult. He's highly successful and alway helping people, while my father, on the other hand, is a retired functional alcoholic.

      My older brother has never been a religious person, but he has more angelic like qualities that any other person that I've ever met.

      Jordan Rice was an angel, without question. His one job that he was sent here to do was to save his little brother Blake's life, and may God bless him for it.

    • 1 year ago
  • NiceN
  • keithponder
    • +4
      keithponder  
    • Image

    • http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-flooding-boy-hero,0,2196284.story
      Boy Drowns After Begging Rescuers to Save Little Brother First
      =====================================================
      As the tide rose around them, the mother-of-four made a desperate call to the emergency services, and the trio clambered on to the roof of their stranded vehicle, before passer-by Warren McErlean stopped to help.

      "I called out for some ropes and a guy gave me some ropes and I tied those together and just headed out towards this car," he told the Nine Network.

      "But the water just kept coming up and by the time I got near this car it just swept me off my feet.

      "The mum put the boy on his back and bought him across to me and by that time I grabbed the boy and the water kept coming up... it was too much water and there was just no time. The tension took up on the rope and I had to let it go.

      "He was just pleading with me to please save my mum, please save my mummy - he was screaming to save his mum.

      "It's terrible. I just kept telling the boy it was going to be alright and it wasn't," a distraught McErlean explained.

      "I'm just very sorry for himself and his family that we couldn't do some more and get them out."

      A Facebook page set up as a tribute to Jordan has garnered more than 150,000 supporters, and has been filled with messages of sympathy and support for his father and brothers Blake, Kyle, 16, and Chris, 22.

      The death toll from the Queensland floods has risen to 15, and there are fears it could grow further as the waters recede in the days to come, with some 70 people still listed as missing.

      Dozens still missing as floodwaters peak in Brisbane

      "We still have a number of families who don't know where their children are, who don't know where their loved ones are," said Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

    • 1 year ago
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