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Four-year-old twins free themselves from car seats after crash kills their father, before climbing embankment to get help

‘They overcame every typical little kid fear. The woods, and the dark’

Vincent Wood
Monday 09 December 2019 15:42 GMT
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Corey Simmons, 47, was killed when he collided with a tree on Whidbey Island, Washington
Corey Simmons, 47, was killed when he collided with a tree on Whidbey Island, Washington

Two four-year-old twins managed to pull themselves from the wreckage of their father’s car and climb onto an embankment to seek help after he died in a collision with a tree.

Corey Simmons, 47, was killed when his vehicle careened off the road on Whidbey Island in Washington state at 6pm on Friday.

Authorities say he was not wearing a seatbelt during the crash, which saw the car fall down and into an embankment.

However his twin daughters, identified by local media as Rosaline and Aurora, survived the collision.

Authorities said the two were both able to free themselves from their car seats and scale the embankment – climbing around 200ft up to the road.

It was there a member of the public spotted the two girls as she drove by, stopping and turning back to offer help and call 911.

The girls were both transported to a nearby hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries.

Trooper Heather Axtman, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Patrol, told the Seattle Times: “It’s one of the truly saddest stories, but so heroic at the exact same time.

“Had those little girls not had the sense of awareness they showed, we would have a missing family.

“They overcame every typical little kid fear. The woods, and the dark.”

Officers are now investigating the causes of the incident.

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