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Barefoot and alone, an Invercargill 5-year-old ran more than a kilometre on a gravel road to find help when his family’s car crashed in Curio Bay.

Last Saturday, George Atley made the decision to leave his sister Emelia, 3, and mother Tamara behind, unhurt but down a bank on a rural Southland road.

Ms Atley said the family had been on a trip to the Curio Bay beach, and decided to visit the nearby petrified forest.

However, after making a wrong turn, she attempted to turn around.

She thought her number was up, as she found herself trapped upside-down in the car which had slipped metres down a bank, flipping as it did so.

In the gully they were in, trees pressed against the window.

George managed to free himself, helped his sister and exited the overturned car unscathed.

“I remember he told me, ‘don’t worry mummy, I’m going for help’.”

He left his mum, unhurt, in the car, who had managed to turn around in the car to be on her hands and knees.

Somehow, the 5-year-old remembered the way back to where he could find help.

When he got to Tumu Toka Curioscape visitor centre car park, he yelled “help” loudly to a passing vehicle.

He learned what to do from watching survival videos on YouTube, he said.

“I think he just Forrest Gump’ed it down the road. He knew he had to run to one place, and that’s what he did,” his mother said.

What happened during that time was still unknown, as she still tried piecing it together from the little he had said since.

“The only person who knows what happened from the minute he left the car to the information centre, is George.”

The incident lasted about an hour, and George’s sister walked herself to a nearby church.
Ms Atley said she was not worried for focused George, but did for Emelia who had wandered off.

“I spent the whole time worrying about her. As you walk down the road, it’s just a drop.”

For Ms Atley, it was a tense wait with the strong smell of petrol and threat of the wrecked car dropping further down into the gully.

However, after all had escaped from the car and regrouped, they found the only injury was a small scratch on George’s elbow.

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