When Kiana French saw her father and sister hopelessly holding onto their sinking boat, she realized she had to act quickly if she wanted them to survive.
The teen was scared as she tried with her sister to bail waters out their 12-foot boat who started sinking. Their dad was in shock and didn’t even react: “I tried to convince Dad to put his life jacket on. He wasn’t even trying. He just hung onto the boat.”
Kiana began swimming to shore, fearing that currents won’t help her: “They say I swam a long ways, but I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was sad to leave my sister and dad behind but I felt it was the right thing to do.”
After swimming 600 yards, she reached the shoreline where campers rushed to help her. The trio was saved, suffered from hypothermia but didn’t require hospitalization.