‘It was an instinct’: Stranger saves 5-year-old girl from drowning in Newfoundland river

When Trysten Vincent saw her five-year-old daughter’s head go underwater at Manuels River last weekend, that’s when a horrifying panic set in.

“It [was] just the worst experience ever… I’ll never forget how terrified she looked and I just couldn’t help her, I was completely helpless,” Vincent told CBC Radio’s The St. John’s Morning Show.

But because of a complete stranger who happened to be at the same swimming hole in Conception Bay South and jumped into help, Stella Spacio didn’t drown.

Ian MacDonald said when he heard the screams and saw the young girl, he just started moving.

“It was an instinct, I saw someone in trouble,” said MacDonald, “That’s all.”

A stranger saved her daughter from possible drowning — hear the story from both sides

Vincent said it was the second time she’d taken Spacio to Manuels River, near the Peacekeepers Way overpass, to go swimming. She added her daughter wore a lifejacket and she kept her eyes on Spacio the whole time.

Then, suddenly she saw Spacio get pushed backwards by the water and go under, which is when Vincent jumped.

“As soon as I hit the current, I got swept back and I was underwater for a brief time,” said Vincent.

Vincent said she almost had Spacio’s lifejacket in her grasp before being swept under. 

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MacDonald, who was at the river with his stepdaughter, said when he saw everything unfold he was only a few feet away, so he started swimming up the current.

He saw Vincent get swept by, so he hauled himself onto a rock and hung over it, so he was able to grab Spacio’s shoulder as she came downstream.

“I couldn’t lift her out, the way that I was laid down on the rock, but I just let her drift down and she went running into her moms arms,” said MacDonald.

Vincent said it wasn’t until she was out of the water and saw Spacio’s face and could touch her, that she realized she was safe.

“I was near her and it felt so close but so far for what had just happened,” said Vincent.

Before the incident this past weekend, Vincent and MacDonald didn’t know each other. Now, Vincent is beyond grateful because she believes if MacDonald wasn’t there that day, the outcome would have been different.

“I said in a Facebook post that I wish I could build your family a castle with my bare hands, I could never do anything to repay you,” Vincent told MacDonald at CBC Studios in St. John’s.

Despite what happened to Spacio, Vincent doesn’t think Manuels River is a dangerous swimming spot but is warning parents and swimmers of the strength of the current and to always wear a lifejacket.

“Watch your children very very closely in the water, like I said, a blink and you might miss something,” said Vincent.

MacDonald is happy that everything turned out OK for Vincent and Spacio and agrees with Vincent’s sentiment that swimmers need to be vigilant.

“It only takes a split second for something to change,” added MacDonald. “So be conscious of the fact that the water can be tricky.”

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