Victims ID'd in overturned car crash near Christiana Mall

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Thursday, November 20, 2014
VIDEO: Good Samaritans rescue 6 from pond near Christiana Mall
Two Good Samaritans jumped into action to rescue five adults and a child when their vehicle overturned and crashed into a pond near the Christiana Mall.

CHRISTIANA, Del. (WPVI) -- Delaware State Police have released the names of the passengers injured in an overturned vehicle accident in Christiana, Delaware.

Three victims, 30-year-old Liyun Chen, 29-year-old Ying Chen, and 5-year-old Wenrui Lin, are listed in good condition at Christiana Care Hospital.

33-year-old Ling Jing Niang is in critical condition.

33-year-old Xian Dong Chen and 33-year-old Meili Wu were also involved in the accident. Their conditions are unknown at this time.

Two Good Samaritans jumped into action to rescue the five adults and a child when their vehicle overturned and crashed into a pond near the Christiana Mall Wednesday.

Police say shortly after 1:00 p.m. a vehicle overturned into a retention pond off the Route 1 Southbound exit ramp to the mall.

Graf Eggers was driving along Route 1 when something caught his eye.

"I saw a man stop here, get out of his car, he started running and I just followed suit - I ran after him," said Eggers.

The man running was Dallas Glass. He'd just witnessed the car careen off the road and was dashing in to help.

"Car ran off the embankment, went down into the pond, flipped upside down - people were trapped in there," said Glass.

Trapped inside were five adults and a child.

The Good Samaritans wasted no time and jumped into action.

"He jumped in the water, he actually wound up pulling one of the victims out - he was conscious," said Eggers.

Determined to save the people trapped inside, the complete strangers waded through the treacherous pond water.

"There were spots when rocks were down on the bottom, you could feel different depths - one spot was probably about neck high," said Glass.

The frantic scene was captured in cell phone video taken by an Action News viewer.

With one person rescued, there were five others still in danger.

"The driver, the guy I pulled out, was unconscious. He was upside down because the car was upside down. His seatbelt was still buckled, reached in, hit the seatbelt, drug him out by his belt loop - he was still unconscious while we were pulling him out," said Eggers.

By that time more bystanders had joined the effort to help get everyone to safety.

Glass and Eggers are being hailed heroes.

"We knew there were people in there so you just go down there and help as best you can," said Glass.