Protodeacon Rescues Lost Boy in Freezing Snow

The head of Tolyatti recounted a story of a miraculous rescue that took place in the Avtozavodsky District of Tolyatti. An 11-year-old schoolboy had gone missing. The boy left home and did not return. Almost immediately after receiving the alert, police and volunteers launched a search operation. Within an hour, the child was found alive and unharmed.

«He was discovered by Protodeacon Veniamin Manikhin not far from one of Tolyatti’s shopping centers. The boy was lying in the snow near a container dumpster area. As it later turned out, the child had gone to his grandmother’s, but she was not at home. On the way back, his chronic disease flared up, he lost consciousness and fell. At that moment, Veniamin Manikhin noticed the boy and immediately provided assistance,» 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 delayed at work. I sat in the car, waiting. And suddenly I saw something on the snow. It was already dark, so it was unclear what: either a bag, or just dirty snow. I thought that it moved. I went to check. There was a child 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 heading 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 garbage 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 and his mother were taken to the hospital,» reported Veniamin Manikhin.

As it later turned out, the boy had gone to visit his grandmother, but she was not at home. Then the child apparently decided to warm up in a 24-hour store. However, on the way his chronic disease flared up, and the schoolboy fell onto the snow — behind the shields, next to the container dumpster. That is exactly where the church minister noticed him.

The clergyman was invited to the city hall and awarded a letter of gratitude from the head of Tolyatti. After a medical examination, the boy is feeling satisfactory and has already returned home.

«It is unlikely that all this is chance or coincidence. I am inclined to believe that someone above made it so that the protodeacon found himself in the right place at the right time. As a result, the child was not harmed, did not sustain any injuries or frostbite, even though there was a biting frost outside,» commented the city mayor on the incident.

Another rescue story unfolded on the Zhigulevsk Sea. A fisherman got caught in a snowstorm, wandered across the ice field for 8 hours, and ended up in the Shigonsky District. Details are in our article.