Five-Year-Old Carries Toddler A Half-Mile In Extreme Cold To Safety After Pair Was Abandoned In Rural Cabin

What a horrific, unimaginable story… though it’s also an unreal opportunity to praise the incredible quick-thinking (and good luck) of a child who realized he was in a very bad situation, and had to go quickly for help.

A five-year-old boy carried a toddler for nearly a full mile in below-zero temperatures across remote Alaskan terrain after the pair was allegedly abandoned in a cabin that had lost power during a storm this week. The temperature outside was reportedly 31 degrees below zero at the time, when the five-year-old became nervous about the power going out and realized he needed to get the 18-month-old toddler to safety.

Incredibly, according to Alaska State Troopers who were dispatched to the small village of Venetie in remote, northern Alaska to investigate the incident, the two children arrived at a neighbor’s house despite wearing only “light clothing and socks” to make the trek. Per a news release from the troopers, the children were both later said to be recovering from their cold-related injuries, though it’s unclear how severely they were hurt during their long-lasting exposure to the unbelievably cold temperatures, or what the recovery period may look like.

Once the children reached the neighbor’s home, the adults there called the police, and that’s when troopers were dispatched by aircraft to the small village (population 175) to figure out the situation. Upon investigating further, State Troopers determined that a woman named Julie Peter was the one who allegedly left the children in the home alone, though it’s unclear what relationship she had to the kids, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Nevertheless, Peter was arrested late this week on a charge of Endangering the Welfare of a Minor in the First Degree, and booked into the Fairbanks Correctional Center, where she’s now going through the court process with her charges. Immediately, the story made the rounds locally, and it’s now going viral across the country this weekend as it becomes more and more clear how the five-year-old boy quite literally saved his own life and that of the helpless 18-month-old toddler after the power outage.

What do U think about this incredible, unfathomable story, Perezcious readers?! We can’t even imagine a five-year-old child carrying a toddler nearly a mile across treacherous, rural outdoor terrain — not to mention the insanely low temperatures, the lack of clothing, and the wind, snow, and disorientation that must have made things nearly impossible. Just… wow.

Sound OFF with your opinions about this incredible story in the comments (below), y’all.

[Image via Gregory Zonzius/WENN]