What looked like a muddy puddle at the side of a road in Thompson’s Riverside area turned out to be a sinkhole that trapped a 12-year-old boy for 90 minutes April 10.
Samuel Desjardins and a friend were walking home and went through the puddle in an attempt to avoid deep mud at the side of the road, accoridng to a Facebook post by his mother Julie Desjardins. Samuel’s friend made it through without incident but when Samuel stepped into the puddle he sank up to his waist and couldn’t get out.
Thompson Fire & Emergency Services responded and attempted to extricate Samuel but were unable to do so.
“The sinkhole was significant enough that our members could not remove the mud and water fast enough to free the youth, and our own members even quickly became entrenched in the same hole,” said the Thompson Professional Firefighters Association (TPFFA) on their Facebook page.
The City of Thompson’s vacuum truck was brought in to assist with the rescue and Samuel was quickly freed.
“A big shout out to Samuel Desjardins,” wrote TPFFA. “You might have been the one stuck in this situation, but many other kids may have panicked. Instead you maintained your calm attitude and sense of humour.”
Julie Desjardins said that at first she was mad because she thought her son had been fooling aroubd when he got stuck, then she was amused and later the gravity of the situation hit her.
“If he was a smaller child, or the hole was deeper or he was in there longer and became hypothermic or there was no vac truck, things could have had a very different outcome,” she wrote, thanking TFES and the city for their work to free Samuel. “We are very grateful for what you did and for all you do every day that we never see.”
