Protodeacon Finds Missing Boy in Tolyatti Frost

The head of Tolyatti (Samara Oblast, Russia) recounted a miraculous rescue in the city’s Avtozavodsky District. An 11-year-old schoolboy went missing after leaving home and not returning. Police and volunteers launched a search operation immediately after the report, and within an hour the child was found alive and unharmed.

«He was found by protodeacon Veniamin Manikhin near one of Tolyatti’s shopping centers. The boy was lying in the snow next to a container area. As it later turned out, the child had gone to his grandmother’s, but she was not home. On the way back, his chronic condition worsened, he lost consciousness and fell. At that moment, Veniamin Manikhin noticed the boy and immediately provided help,» reported Ilya Sukhikh.

The priest admitted to the publication «Gorodskiye Vedomosti» that he did not immediately recognize the child in the dark.

«In the evening, I went to pick up my child from Burger King, where he works. Usually I arrive an hour earlier, but that day my daughter was late at work. I sat in the car, waiting. And suddenly I saw something in the snow. It was already dark, so it was unclear what: either a bag or just dirty snow. I thought it moved. I went to look. A child was lying on the snow. At first I thought he was frozen because he wasn«t saying anything. As it turned out later, after the ambulance arrived, the boy»s blood sugar had spiked sharply. Apparently, he was walking to warmth and literally didn«t make it ten steps. He fell in a place where passersby couldn»t see him: there were shields and trash bins nearby. Fortunately, I noticed him,» said the protodeacon.

He added that he particularly believes in coincidences, but it turned out that because of the delay, he saw the child.

«I picked up the boy in my arms and carried him into Burger King. There they warmed him up, called an ambulance and the police. His mother arrived. Because the child had high blood sugar, he was taken to the hospital with his mother,» reported Veniamin Manikhin.

As it later turned out, the boy went to visit his grandmother, but she wasn«t home. Then the child apparently decided to warm up in a 24-hour store. But on the way, his chronic disease worsened, and the schoolboy fell onto the snow — behind shields, next to the container area. That»s exactly where the church servant noticed him.

The clergyman was invited to the city hall and given a letter of gratitude from the head of Tolyatti. After being examined by doctors, the boy feels satisfactory and has already returned home.

«It is unlikely that all this is a coincidence or chance. I am inclined to believe that someone from above made it so that the protodeacon was in the right place at the right time. As a result, the child was not injured, did not sustain any trauma or frostbite, even though it was bitterly cold outside,» commented the mayor on the incident.

Another rescue story unfolded on the Zhiguli Sea (a reservoir). A fisherman got caught in a blizzard, wandered for 8 hours across the ice field and reached Shigonsky District. Details are in our material.