Principal dives into icy river to save autistic student

An elementary school principal dived into a frozen river to save a 10-year-old student who fell through the ice.

Principal Gwen Rhodes' quick action meant autistic Andrew Brown was in the freezing river in New Hampshire for only a few minutes.

He had fallen through the ice in Cocheco River on Wednesday outside the Gonic School in Rochester.

Rhodes said the boy ran away from a teacher and through the woods behind the school onto the frozen river after a morning break.

Both the teacher and Rhodes took off after him and saw him come to a stop on a patch of thin ice. 'And then the ice started to break so the first reaction was I needed to get him out of the water keep his head above water and get him back up the embankment,' Rhodes told WMUR.

Lieutenant Dennis Dube of the Rochester Fire Department said; 'They were both up to their chests in water,'

Rhodes says she was able to get to Andrew and use trees along the riverbank to pull them to safety, reports WMUR. 'We were able to work our way to the edge and I used a tree to brace my foot that was kind of under the water and I pushed him upward and got him out of the water,' she said in the report.

The principal told WMUR was simply doing her job when she jumped into the river. 'Everyone worked as a team and reacted quickly,' she said.

(© Daily Mail, London)