Mayor helps mother and three young children escape before train hits vehicle

Mayor Eddie Daniels managed to save the family before the train hit the SUV. Picture: Facebook.

A mayor in the US state of Georgia helped a mother and three children escape from a vehicle that was stalled on railway tracks with a train fast approaching.

Vienna mayor Eddie Daniels was on his way to work on Saturday morning when he saw the SUV in the dangerous position.

“I couldn’t let those babies sit there and get slaughtered by a train,” Mr Daniels told WALB-TV.

He helped the mother out first, then saw three children in the back seat – a six-year-old, a three-year-old and a one-year-old.

The mayor said he got the two younger children out and was helping the six-year-old when the train hit the vehicle.

Mr Daniels said he remembers being caught between the train and the SUV but still managed to get the last child out.

The smashed vehicle landed a few feet from where it was hit.

Mr Daniels has a broken ankle and eight stitches on his head.

He said he is thankful the family is alive.

The second-term mayor also said he would never have imagined this happening in the south central Georgia city of 4,000 residents.

“I’m out here just doing God’s work. That’s what we’re supposed to do," he said. 

“And they told me I was a hero. I said I don’t feel like a hero, just feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, what the people elected me to do.”