A Surrey family is shaken, but otherwise not seriously injured after a tree crashed down on the family vehicle during Friday’s windstorm, trapping those inside.
Hieu Tran had just come home after picking up her three daughters from school and doing some grocery shopping.
With her two youngest daughters asleep in the backseat, Hieu asked 11-year-old Anh-Tam to run into the house and pick up her bag before heading out to a piano lesson.
“She was in the house for 30 seconds when all of a sudden I heard a bang and things collapsed on us,” Hieu said.
WATCH: Fallen tree traps child in car
Strong winds had caused a large monkey puzzle tree to fall on the roof of her car. Hieu was trapped with her two daughters – Anh, 7, and Thuc-Minh, 5, – in the backseat.
“I looked back and my seven-year-old daughter was screaming and then I saw the roof of the car rested right on her chest. I tried to kick out the door and push the roof up to help her and I couldn’t.
“I thought she was going to die.”
Seven-year-old Anh managed to climb out of the car and told her older sister to call 911.
Trapped in the car with five-year-old Thuc-Minh, Hieu honked her car horn and neighbours rushed to their aid, using planks of wood to keep the fallen tree from sinking further into the car.
Paramedics arrived a short time later and extracted Heiu and Thuc-Minh from the vehicle.
The youngest daughter has nothing more than a scratch on her forehead, and her father is grateful her injuries weren’t more serious.
“A couple of more feet here or there, a couple of inches deeper, the outcome could have more severe,” Khanh Minh said. “I feel very blessed and very grateful.”
– With files from Jill Bennett
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