Mum and babes live to thank their hero
Published: June 1, 2007
A HEROIC grandfather who saved two young boys and their mum when they crashed into a water-filled drain has described the moment disaster struck.
Alan Kinninmonth was driving over Bedlam Bridge, on the outskirts of March, when he was involved in a collision with a Mercedes estate carrying a young family from St Ives.
Both cars plummeted off the bridge into the Sixteen Foot Drain, leaving Mr Kinninmonth’s Ford Focus estate sinking into the water, and Louise Coatsworth, 32, and her sons Oliver, two, and Daniel, one, trapped in their vehicle nearby.
But the quick-thinking 53-year-old called on his military training - learned over 20 years as a weapons engineer in the RAF - to pull himself from the wreck and drag the terrified mum and boys to safety.
He said: “I remember the water rushing towards me, then the vehicle hit and I watched the wash rise up the car’s windscreen. I remember thinking: ‘I am not going to die here, not today, it is not right.’
“The windscreen buckled, and water began to rush in, but through luck or fate the driver’s window had also broken and I was able to lever myself out into the water.
“I swam to the shallow water, then heard a woman’s voice calling: ‘My babies, my babies’. I realised there was another vehicle in the water, and she had her children with her.
“I have a grandson who is 16 months old, so the kids struck a chord with me. I grabbed hold of the car and pulled it to where I was standing in three feet of water, so that if it sank I would still be in control.
“I told the woman to climb out first, then carry her young sons to safety. Between us we managed to do it.
“Then we flagged down motorists and called for an ambulance - my body temperature had fallen to 32 degrees, and the paramedics were worried about hypothermia.
“But, apart from some bruising that will heal, and the emotional impact of something like this, I am ok.”
Mrs Coatsworth, of St Ives, said: “He deserves a medal for getting us out of there and saving my little ones. It doesn’t bear thinking about if he hadn’t been there for us.”
Despite the terrible ordeal, Mr Kinninmonth, of Eastwood End, Wimblington, was modest about his brave actions.
He said: “People can say it was heroic, but it was my training which kicked in. I did what anyone should do in that situation. I was not going to let those children die - they deserve a chance in life.”
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