A mother and her young children faced an agonizing choice on a recent
visit to a safari park in England, when their car burst into flames in the
middle of a lion habitat. Helen Clements and her two young kids, visiting the
Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire, England, Friday, had to make a split-second
decision whether to take the chance that the flames didn't reach them before
help arrived, or trust themselves to the mercy of the lions outside. "You're
stuck and you can't control and you can't do anything about it," Clements
said.
Other tourists in the safari park couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Clements said she tried to get out and her son tried to run off, but the park
rangers stopped them. "They were shouting at us get back in the car, do
not get out the car and it's a situation - what do you do?" Clements said.
Fortunately for her and her children, the rangers rushed in and got her out
just in the nick of time.
"Literally as he opened the door we just jumped into his
vehicle," she said. "(There's) always a ranger with their eye on the
animals and a ranger there to assist the family," Longleat Safari Park
marketing director Alex Lloyd said. "That training kicked into action and
all worked well, so the first ranger stayed close by the lions whilst the
second ranger was able to relatively freely get the family out of the
vehicle." Everyone was scared but they were all safe, Clements said.
"Why
couldn't it be in the flamingos or the camels?" she said. "But no, it
had to be in the lion enclosure."
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/car-bursts-flames-nearly-feeding-family-lions-101651021--abc-news-topstories.html?vp=1
This is such a scary situation! I'm glad that all of them are safe and that the rangers were able to act quickly in the situation.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine being in this unfortunate situation! I'm glad that the rangers had training and were willing to risk their own lives to help.
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