A 10-year-old California girl is home safe after falling 10 feet into a snow-covered hole in the Sierras on Sunday.
Dana Griffin talked to the girl and her family about the group that just happened to be walking by and helped pulled the girl to safety.
Samantha White became stuck in a hole while snow shoeing at Castle Peak Trailhead.
"When my dad tried to come and help me, I fell more," Samantha said.
Samantha’s mother captured cell phone video thinking she was just stuck in the snow. She stopped and jumped in to help once she realized Samantha was sinking deeper and deeper.
"I could hear her, but I couldn’t see her so I didn’t know how deep the hole was, or what she was going to fall into or what was down there," Hilda White, her mother, said. "I had no idea."
Samantha’s father, William, is a retired firefighter who has seen this narrative dozens of times before, never thinking one day it would be his own child.
"Agonizing," William said. "Your daughter screaming, ‘Don’t let me go, don’t let me go Daddy.’ Wife yelling, ‘Don’t let her go honey.’ The choice was to let her go and live with that. If something bad happened, or hold on and all three of us end up in the hole."
Samantha fell 10 feet and landed in ankle-deep, frigid water.
William called 911 and thought by the time help arrived she would be in grave condition. By sheer coincidence, the help they needed walked by.
"This group of 12-15 snow shoers came down the hill and I was a little preoccupied talking on the phone to the dispatcher and one of them said, ‘Do you need some help?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, my daughter’s in a hole about 12-15 feet down. Who are you?’ They said, ‘We’re Marin County Search and Rescue.’ And I was like, ‘Oh thank goodness.’"
The rescuers used rope to pull Samantha out within a matter of minutes.
Samantha was able to walk a mile and a half back to the car. She thanked the rescuers and took a photo with them.
Now, she is ready to get back to the snow.
"I still want to go to the snow, but just not off the trails," Samantha said.
The rescue team members were recognized by their department on Monday.
They were happy to be in the right place at the right time.
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