A pair of toddlers beat the odds and survived for days without food and water after their mother died in a car accident on Arkansas State Highway 24. Three-year-old Kylen Holliman was discovered wandering near a grocery store along the highway early Monday morning. Ouachita County Sheriff's Office shared his photo on social media, hoping to learn his identity.
His family reached out to police and said they had not seen the young child, his one-year-old brother, or their mother Lisa for days. Authorities returned to the area where they found Kylen wandering and discovered a car at the bottom of the ravine.
Kylen's grandfather, James, said that the young child managed to get out of his car seat and escape the vehicle through the sunroof.
"When he climbed out of that car, seeing his mother dead like that like she was, he tried to wake his mom up," James Holliman explained to Fox16.
Rescue workers found the one-year-old still strapped in his car seat and body of their mother, who had been ejected from the car in the accident. The young child was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.
"Today is anything but short of a miracle. The three-year-old and one-year-old being able to survive in the elements you know southern Arkansas with how hot it is -- the humidity -- we've had precipitation since then and like I said it's nothing short of a miracle -- God's blessing that these children were able to survive this accident," Detective Nathan Greeley of the Ouachita County Sheriff's Office told KATV.
Officials are investigating to determine the cause of the fatal accident.