Woman calls 911 as car sinks in icy river

A Geary, N.B., woman is in critical condition after her vehicle plunged into the St. John River on Sunday morning.

Shirley Foster, 73, called 911 and told the operator her car had skidded off the highway, down an embankment onto the ice in Maugerville and was beginning to sink.

Fredericton Const. Rick Mooney said the 911 call came in at 7:50 a.m.

Three Fredericton police officers were the first on the scene; RCMP were also called to assist.

When the officers arrived, they had to conduct the rescue with only rope and life-jackets.

"Without any hesitation, they went into the water," Mooney said of the officers, who broke the window and pulled the woman from the car before it became completely submerged.

Mooney said the "timing was very close"  because the car was continuing to sink.

"They were able to extract the person. They then had to break the window and fortunately they got the person to shore and, with some difficulty, were able to to revive them. They had gone unconscious."

The rescuers performed CPR, because Foster had stopped breathing.

Foster remains in critical but stable condition in hospital.

"We are talking about freezing cold waters. We are talking about officers who, without thinking, were willing to put their lives on the line for someone else," Mooney said.

The three officers were also being praised on Monday by Fredericton police Chief Barry MacKnight.

"They certainly went above and beyond the call of duty," MacKnight said. "That is something we've seen regularly with our staff. It seems pretty obvious that our people were able to get to the right place at the right time.

"They put a plan together, they implemented that plan. There was great risk for them."

The car remains in the water, with just the antenna and a bit of the roof now visible.

RCMP are investigating the cause of the accident, but say slippery road conditions may have been a factor.

They hope to talk to the driver soon.