It was a scene straight out of a disaster or horror movie.
But there were no cameras capturing the action that happened on a Friday night on a highway in Texarkana, Arkansas. The scene was for real: An eight-month-old baby flew through the air—ejected from the window of a car that was struck by a lorry. The baby fell in a storm drain 25 feet away, CNN affiliate KSLA reported.
Remarkably, the infant, identified as Bryce Hale, was later found by rescuers with just a "little more than a scratch on her forehead." The rescuers said it was "divine intervention" that saved little Bryce's life.
Bryce was travelling with her mom, Jakesia Colson, her aunt, Shameerah Colson, her mom's friend Trina Johnson, who was driving the vehicle, and Johnson's daughter Justice Lawson, according to reports. The car was cruising on Interstate 30 around 7 p.m. on Nov. 25 when an 18-wheeler clipped it while changing lanes, according to KSLA.
In the aftermath, Justice said the airbag flung her mom Trina out of the car. She was then hit by a passing vehicle but survived.
As soon as the vehicle came to a stop following the crash, Jakesia began looking for her daughter Bryce, who was also thrown out of the car.
"I started running up and down the highway looking everywhere for her, calling her name," Jakesia told KSLA. "I didn't hear a baby crying, no baby screaming, nothing. I panicked. I thought she was gone. It was the worst 15 minutes of my life trying to look for her."
The first responders later found Bryce inside a storm drain—very much alive. Authorities said the little girl apparently rolled down a hill and into the drain.
The rescuers said they had heard a small noise near a patch of hay and found the child inside the drain.
"The baby ... was sitting up and looking up at us waiting for us to pull her out," Texarkana firefighter Josh Moore said, adding, "There had to be some kind of divine intervention for her to end up being OK."
"I know it was a miracle," Jakesia said. "The way they had to pull her out of the drain. They couldn't just pull her out. They had to turn her head a certain way and turn her body a certain way to get her out."
"I was just overwhelmed with joy," Jakesia continued. "I started crying and thanking God for sparing my baby, for sparing us, for not taking my angel away from me. She is my miracle baby."
