Canadian Woman Pauses to Take a Selfie While Rescuers Hurry to Save Her From Car Sinking Into Icy River

Sarah RumpfJan 17th, 2022, 5:39 pm
 
Canadian woman takes selfie as her car sinks into icy river

Photo by Lynda Douglas. Used with permission.

A Canadian woman found herself in a precarious situation — standing on the roof of her car as it slowly sank beneath the surface of an ice-covered river — but not so precarious that she couldn’t stop and take a selfie.

According to a report by CTV News, the woman was driving her car on the frozen Rideau River in Ottawa around 4:30 pm Sunday when it broke through the ice and started sinking into the frigid water below.

Local residents came to her rescue, using a kayak to allow her to get off the roof of her car shortly before it sank entirely below the surface, and pull her to where the ice was more solid.

Emergency crews had been called but the woman declined treatment at the scene.

A local talk radio show posted video submitted by a listener that showed the rescuers, dragging a blue kayak,  hurrying across the snow and ice over to the woman as she stands on the sinking yellow car.

“She’s on top of the car, she’s going in,” a woman can be heard saying on what appears to be a cell phone video. “Hurry up, Doug!”

A second video clip showed the woman being successfully pulled to safety, as onlookers call out to make sure everyone was safe. “Everyone was out of the car?” “Yeah, she’s the only one!”

Local Ottawa resident Lynda Douglas tweeted a photo that showed the woman standing on the roof of her car with one arm raised in the recognizable pose of taking a self-portrait with one’s cell phone. Reached for comment by Mediaite, Douglas confirmed that she had taken the photo while on the phone with 911.

“She captured the moment with a selfie while people hurried and worried to help her,” tweeted Douglas, along with the facepalm emoji.

Another photo by Douglas, apparently taken slightly later as the car has sunken further into the water, showed the woman looking down into the icy depths as her rescuers can be seen in the background, approaching with the kayak.

Yet another video from a neighbor showed what appeared to have immediately preceded the woman’s icy escapade. “Glad everyone is safe,” tweeted Sacha Gera, “here is a video from our backyard as it went by.” Gera’s video showed children playing in the backyard as a yellow car drove by at a high rate of speed along the frozen surface of the river.

The Ottawa Police Service tweeted an update about the case and urged people to be cautious about attempting to cross frozen waterways.

In a longer statement on the OPS website, police confirmed that the woman had been rescued uninjured “by local residents using a kayak and quick safe thinking.”

“The driver was subsequently charged with one count of Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle under the Criminal Code of Canada,” the statement continued, noting that her vehicle was “still in the river and could pose as a hazard for curious onlookers venturing out on the ice.”

“Ice conditions at this time of year can be unpredictable,” the OPS warned. “No Ice is Safe Ice.”

Oh, Canada.

This article has been updated with additional information about the incident.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.