Ice on Sucker River Credit: Elaine Ratt (released)

In northern Saskatchewan Province in Canada, a woman has been hailed as a hero for risking death in an icy river to save a child.

Falling through whilst playing, the boy’s friend rushed to the Sucker River Community Store where Elaine Ratt was just clocking in for her shift.

The member of the Lac La Ronge Band of Indians was probably expecting a normal day on the job, but as soon as she saw the child’s face, she knew something was dreadfully amiss.

“The fear in [his] eyes scared me,” Ratt said, running down to the Sucker River.

When she arrived at the edge of the river she began calling repeatedly for him to keep his head above water, but seconds later she was inching herself along, hearing the cracking of the ice beneath her.

“By the time I was getting toward him, he was already starting to float down underneath the water,” she told CBC News.

Elaine Ratt, right, and her 12-year-old daughter – Elaine Ratt/Submitted

As soon as she was close enough to perhaps help the boy, the worst happened and the ice gave way beneath her, leaving them both treading in the frigid water.

It wasn’t long until she got him to a patch of solid ice and hoisted him up. Even in his state of shock, he remembered that if one finds themselves in that situation, never try to stand up, but always keep the lowest center of gravity possible to avoid breaking the ice anew. The boy rolled like a seal onto the bank.

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But Ratt was heavier and every time she tried to pull herself out, the ice kept breaking away. Eventually, in shock, she too escaped.

“So I carried him, with all my soaking clothes and his soaking clothes. It was more of a reflex. I don’t want to see this little boy down the river or something worse happening to him,” Ratt said. “So I would rather we risk my life than his.”

At the community store, first responders were there to rush the boy to the hospital where he eventually regained a normal body temperature.

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Meanwhile, Ratt went home to get a change of clothes. When she returned, the emergency crews were still around, and when she stepped out of her truck, erupted in applause for her heroism, moving the Lac La Ronge member to tears.

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