An urgent call for help turned into a desperate search for a Florida woman stuck upside down in a sinking car.
Amanda Antonio, 20, was moments away from drowning after her car flipped over, landing in a flooded ditch near Tampa, Fla., on the morning of New Year’s Day.
Trapped and terrified, she dialled 911 on her waterlogged phone with a dying battery.
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“I can’t kick the window. Please come fast!” Antonio is heard saying during the emotional 911 call.
Hillsborough County deputies, including a dive team, searched frantically for Antonio as water began rising to her chin.
Police made it just in time to pull her out from the car as it sank in the “quicksand mud.”
Deputies credited Antonio’s quick thinking with helping first responders save her life.
“Amanda absolutely would not have got out of that vehicle on her own,” Deputy Chris Sullivan said at a news conference on Thursday morning, where Antonio was able to reunite with her rescuers.
“But she did everything right. And she was calm. She’s the reason she’s alive today.”
Sullivan added that Antonio staying relatively calm during the entire ordeal was a huge help.
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Antonio credited watching the American drama series 9-1-1 three months prior with her father for taking decisive action when she was trapped in the overturned car.
She has since started a GoFundMe page to raise money to replace the car.