A candidate running for a council seat in Sainte-Dorothée says she didn't think twice before speeding out to the site of a downed hydroplane on the Rivière des Prairies yesterday, after witnessing it crash.
Lydia Aboulian says she was preparing another day on the campaign trail with a volunteer, when she heard what sounded like a plane flying too close and glanced out her window.
"The scene looked like it was out of 007. I've never seen a hydroplane flip like that in front of my eyes. And the splash it created was higher than the trees. I was sure that any people in the plane would be unconscious," she says.
Aboulian told her campaign volunteer to call 911 and, in a split-second decision, ran to her personal watercraft and sped to the overturned plane.
"The adrenaline was pumping. I couldn't see any heads in the water, so I approached thinking I'd have to dive in," she says.
After a few minutes, she spotted the only passenger, a 73-year-old pilot, and pulled him to safety.
"I asked if there was anyone else in the plane. He said 'no.' The current was so strong that I got him onto my watercraft, not knowing his age. It's a miracle he didn't have any injuries," she said.
The man asked Aboulian to take him home, as his plane sank behind them.
He was received at his home dock by family members, who had seen the plane go down.
That's when emergency boats arrived.
"They were frantic, asking 'where is the plane?' It had sunk. It wasn't even visible. The current had taken it so far. I told them 'it's gone, but the pilot is fine. I just dropped him off.'"
Aboulian says she went back to check on the pilot late Wednesday evening and his wife confirmed he was in good health with no injuries.
"I was just in the right place, at the right time. I'm really relieved he is okay. The story had a happy ending, thankfully," she said.
The plane has since been towed out of the river.