Child and grandma in danger

Courageous women save two lives

Mayor Bärbel Stockinger (center) thanked the courageous lifesavers with flowers.(Bild: Horvath Helmut)

A few seconds longer, who knows what would have happened! A baby carriage and toddler ended up in the River Pitten due to a fainting spell suffered by the grandmother (70). A perfect rescue chain prevented a tragedy.

It could have ended tragically! The grandmother of a 13-month-old boy suffered a fainting spell in Bad Erlach in the district of Wiener Neustadt.

On the first day of their spa stay, Manisha Schlenz (43) and Livia Gregorovo (39) were out shopping when they witnessed the accident on the Pitten. They saw the baby carriage with the toddler plunge into the stream and their grandmother immediately jumped in. The two eyewitnesses rushed to help, as did three boys (aged 10 to 12), and the priest from Erlach also showed active charity and helped. The three boys were up to their chests in the water of the Pitten.

The 13-month-old boy was flown to the Danube Hospital in Vienna. He and his grandmother are doing well under the circumstances.(Bild: FF Bad Erlach)

Toddler rescued
Shortly after the baby carriage was hoisted out of the water, first responder Wolfgang Woltron arrived. Thanks to the first aid measures initiated immediately, the little boy regained consciousness. Mayor Bärbel Stockinger thanked all (first) responders as well as the Red Cross and the fire department: "You prevented the worst!"