A teenage boy near Healesville northeast of Melbourne saved the lives of his older sister and eight small children by dragging them out of a burning house and driving them to safety on a tiny tractor.
Proud father Mark Sund had told how his 18-year-old son Rhys made the heroic dash through a burning paddock to get to his sister Rhiannon and the group of children who had been sheltering in a nearby house.
"He is just an absolute legend," Mr Sund told radio 3AW.
"He has gone down through a burning paddock, cut his way through to the other house and got them all out on a little tractor."
Just a short time earlier a terrified Rhiannon, who had been looking after the eight young children, had rung the radio station pleading for help as the fire raced towards them.
"We really need help right now. We are half a kilometre from the front of the fire," she said.
Rhys, along with his uncle and grandfather leapt onto the tractor and raced towards the flames.
"We got in the tractor and the road was ablaze," Mr Sund told The Sydney Morning Herald.
"We had to cut through a fence and get to them."
"We had to do two trips to get everyone out … all the way there was burnt grass.
"It was really scary."
Front page
RSS Feed