'Hero' dad saves toddler’s life from falling tree
An Adelaide father has been hailed a hero for saving his toddler son’s life when he jumped in front of the little boy to shield him from a falling tree as it came crashing down.
Five children and seven adults were sitting under a huge silver birch tree at Tusmore Park, in the city’s eastern suburbs, when a branch suddenly fell on top of them.
“All of a sudden we heard a bit of a crack, and the tree just kind of fell, it just broke in two,” witness Bianca Bruno told 7 News.
Miguel Mawate threw himself over his two-year-old son Rafa to shield him as a branch crashed down on top of them. The 37-year-old suffered back injuries but his little boy wasn’t hurt.
Mr Mawate was taken to hospital, along with an elderly man with a heart condition. Two children were also treated at the scene for shock.
Ms Bruno described the dad’s actions as “heroic and amazing”.
“I guess you do anything for your kids,” she said.
“I think we are super lucky. It could’ve been worse.”
The City of Burnside sent out council inspectors to examine the site on Saturday afternoon to determine if the incident was a freak accident or one that could have been prevented.
“With the big hot spell that we’ve had [and] a little bit of rain this morning, quite often they just randomly drop,” said Mick Sausse of the South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS).
“It’s got rotting in the middle of it by the look of it, we’ve had a lot of trees here go down.”
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