’I’ve lost my baby boy’: Tullamore dad’s distressing words to rescuers

A witness has revealed how a heroic husband willed his wife to fight on until help arrived when the couple’s vehicle became trapped in a flooded creek.

A husband kept his wife alive by breathing into her mouth and begging her not to give up as they clung to a tree in floodwater while holding their youngest two children.

Chilling details emerged of how a heroic Joseph El Jer willed his wife Pamela to fight on until help arrived when the couple’s vehicle became trapped in a flooded creek at Tullamore on Friday night.

Heartbreakingly, their eldest child Jayden, 5, couldn’t be freed from the middle of the back seat amid the desperation to get their two other children Valentina, 3, and Bachir, 1, from their car seats.

His little body was found inside the submerged ute on Saturday afternoon.

Tullamore local Fiona Aveyard who was one of the first people on scene said Mr El Jer’s anguish and heartbreak was distressing to see.

5-year-old Jayden El Jer and his dad Joseph.

“He was distraught. He was saying “I’ve lost my baby,” Mrs Aveyard said.

“His wife was in a very bad way, she was physically fading … The husband said he was breathing oxygen into her mouth just to keep her going.”

Little Jayden did not survive the family’s horrific floodwater ordeal.

Parents of Jayden’s school peers shared touching tributes to the “bright and bubbly” boy.

Two men whose vehicle also became trapped in the swollen creek raised the alarm after hearing the El Jer’s screams for help.

Police said the couple and their two children were in the water for three hours before they were rescued.

“It was a closed road, there were multiple road closure signs that weren’t obeyed … and it’s a tragic outcome,” a police spokesman said.

Mrs El Jer. was still in Dubbo Hospital on Monday where she was being treated for shock, while the rest of the family had been released into the care of relatives who travelled from Sydney to care for them.

The family’s fight for survival lasted three hours before rescuers reached them.

Principal of Christ the King primary school Tony Hughes had the grim task of telling parents about the tragic death of kindergarten student Jayden, on the first day of the school holidays.

“Over the weekend, one of our Kindergarten students Jayden lost his life in an accident caused by flooding in Central West New South Wales,” Mr Hughes said.

“Our entire community will be deeply affected by this tragic loss of our friend and classmate, Jayden. Jayden joined our caring community at the beginning of 2022.”

School parents responded with tributes to a ‘bright and bubbly’ Jayden.

“Absolutely heartbreaking … fly high with the angels, precious boy,” one parent wrote.

Another commented: “Rest in peace little man … My heart goes out to Jayden’s family and friends.”