Annell Bings helped to save Marianne Schrimpf from drowning, Mount Currie, British Columbia, July 19, 1994. Ms. Schrimpf, 65, and Annell, 17, student, were passengers in an automobile that, in an accident, left the roadway and entered the Birkenhead River. The car began to sink at a point about 60 feet from the closer bank in about 11 feet of water, which was made frigid by snowmelt from mountains and ice fields in the vicinity. Annell, who had been sleeping before the accident, opened one of the car’s rear doors, exited the vehicle, and swam to the bank. Seeing neither Ms. Schrimpf nor the driver, she returned to the car, which had submerged by then. Annell went below the surface of the water to the car and, with difficulty, opened a door. She entered the car partially, grasped Ms. Schrimpf, who was unconscious, and removed her to the surface. Annell swam toward the bank with Ms. Schrimpf, en route grasping one end of a rope that was thrown to her. The women were then pulled to the bank. Cold and tired, they recovered from effects of the ordeal, Ms. Schrimpf having required hospitalization. Another woman who had been in the car also survived, but the driver drowned.
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