Pregnant Mother Saves Three Children from Drowning in Lake Michigan

A pregnant woman has saved three children from drowning in Lake Michigan after noticing they were struggling to swim in the rough waters.

In a Facebook post last Tuesday, Alyssa DeWitt, who is five months pregnant, said that she was enjoying a day at the First Street Beach Pier at Lake Michigan when she noticed a pair of hands waving at her from the water.

DeWitt revealed that she "immediately" got her own kids out of the water and ran onto the pier, where she noticed a group of children "getting pulled out into the lake and slammed against the pier wall."

She wrote that the area of the beach they were located in was empty and that the strong winds meant she struggled to hear what was being said by police when she called the authorities to ask for help.

The mother told WPBN that because she could not hear the other end of the phone, she put it down "with 911 on and laid down over the side of the pier and told them what to do."

DeWitt said that the children, who are all under the age of 15, "were literally drowning in front of my eyes," so she "prayed they could hear me screaming for help and worked to pull those kids up the side of the pier."

The mother wrote that one of the girls in the water told her that she thought she was going to die, as DeWitt "promised her" that she would not let that happen and pulled the children to the pier wall and safety.

She said that she "was going to do whatever I had to do" to get the children out of the rough water and wrote that she is "beyond thankful I was where I was and that those kids get to live another day."

The Manistee News Advocate reported the police arrived at the beach shortly after DeWitt had rescued the three children, and confirmed that the incident took place at around 5:40 p.m.

After the police arrived, DeWitt went to a local hospital with the children to check that the juveniles and her unborn child were okay. No one suffered serious injuries during the incident.

Manistee City Police Chief Josh Glass praised DeWitt in a statement to WPBN, writing: "Without the actions of this heroic young lady, [this] could have easily turned out differently."

Newsweek has contacted the Manistee City Police Department for comment.