Toddler Revived After Falling 10 Feet Into A Septic Tank

A toddler nearly drowned in several feet of raw sewage after falling into a septic tank on Wednesday.

Two-year-old Thorin Hess was rescued from the septic tank by his quick-thinking mother, then resuscitated by his 12-year-old sister, who said she never learned CPR, according to ABC.

Thorin and his sister, Madi Hess, were playing in the backyard of their grandparents’ home in Edgewood, Washington when the accident happened.

“I just saw him step onto the lid, it flipped open and like a flash, he just went straight down, and I started screaming.”

After falling through the loose lid, Thorin was completely submerged in sewage, according to his mother, Marcia Hess. The tank was dark, being only lit from the small hole above. In a panic, Marcia grabbed a shovel desperate to reach her drowning son.

12-year-old girl revives toddler brother found unresponsive in septic tank https://t.co/TXUDnDZ2r8 pic.twitter.com/sBzpJgpvr0

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Unable to find him, Marcia put the shovel into the septic tank once again trying to reach her son. The shovel grabbed a hold of his small foot and the mother pulled him to the top.

While doing so, sister, Madi tried to grab her brother’s foot to help but, “of course” the shoe slipped off, Madi said, leaving Thorin to fall into the septic tank once again.

Watching her son drown, Marcia said she began praying.

“I could see him dying and so I just called out to God, just praying,” she said she prayed. “Get me down there. Get me to my son.”

Marcia then began trying to squeeze her body through the narrow hole in the septic tank to find her son, the hole in the tank so small that it took her shirt and undergarment off as she squeezed into the tank.

Finding Thorin, limp and not breathing, the bruised, battered and bleeding mother lifted her son up to his 12-year-old sister who began performing CPR.

“I didn’t even know what to do,” said Madi, after beginning chest compressions. “God took my hands and just did it for me,” she said. “I just put my palms on his chest and pressed really hard.”

A dispatcher was called and led Madi through CPR, continuing trying to save her brother. “Then Thorin started gurgling,” Madi said she realized her brother was alive.

Paramedics rushed Thorin to a nearby children’s hospital where doctors worried he would have infections from breathing and swallowing sewage. However, within 24 hours, doctors declared the miracle boy healthy and able to go home.

The family is getting a new lid for their septic tank as a safety precaution according to ABC.