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Heartbreaking latest social media post from a mother who lost her five-year-old son when their ute was swept away in the water as they returned from a family trip to the zoo
- Jayden El Jer, five, drowned Friday in a submerged car that ran into water
- His parents and two younger siblings were found in the trees at about 8pm
- Parents uploaded a video of them driving through the water the day before
- Jayden’s father, Joseph El Jer, called the five-year-old a ‘blessing from heaven’
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A Sydney couple’s latest social post before their five-year-old son drowned in the floodwaters shows their three children playing in the back of their ute as they drove along partially flooded roads.
Devastated parents Joseph El Jer and Pam Hadchity shared videos of their 445km road trip from Granville, Sydney, to Tullamore in Central NSW, before their car was swept away in raging flooding at about 8pm on Friday.
The family had headed west for a family trip to the Dubbo Zoo.
Emergency services found that Mr and Mrs El Jer were holding their two youngest children while holding trees in running water after they exited their vehicle.
The couple’s eldest son, Jayden, five, was unable to escape from the car.
Joseph El Jer and Pam Hadchity (pictured with their two youngest children) were found holding trees after their car was swept off the road in the floodwaters with five-year-old Jayden (center) still inside
Photos show the family dressed in life jackets being lifted from the lifeboat.
Emergency services waited with the vehicle while the family was rushed to Dubbo Hospital for treatment.
Police divers found Jayden’s body in the sunken car and he was driven to Parkes Hospital but could not be rescued.
Just a day earlier, his parents shared a video of them driving through partially flooded roads as the three kids cheered from the back seat.
The latest video shared on the family’s TikTok page showed them visiting Dubbo Zoo on Friday afternoon, about 126km east of Tullamore.
Jayden celebrated his fifth birthday in March.
Photos show the little boy beaming with his face covered in icing from his dinosaur-themed cake.
Five-year-old Jayden (pictured on his fifth birthday, covered in frosting from his dinosaur-themed cake) was found in a sunken car Friday night by police divers
Jayden’s heartbroken parents, parents Joseph El Jer and Pam Hadchity (above) shared videos of the family’s road trip from Sydney to Tullamore before being swept away by flooding
“You make me proud, happy, happy and I will always be your biggest fan who will love you so much,” Ms. Hadchity captioned the photos.
Mr El Jer wrote that Jayden was a ‘blessing from heaven’.
“You turned me into a father, something I only dreamed of. Now you and your siblings have completed me,” he said.
Heartbreaking videos on the family’s TikTok page show Jayden playing and dancing with his siblings.
Jayden’s parents and two younger siblings were rescued from SES employees Friday night and taken to Dubbo Hospital (pictured, the family being lifted from the lifeboat)
The El Jer family is well known in the Tullamore community and is visited several times a year.
According to locals, the family often attended Tullamore Catholic Church.
“It’s absolutely devastating, things like this just don’t happen here and everyone is just absolutely devastated to the family, everyone who went there,” local mom Adriana Stevenson told the Daily Telegram.
“It’s terrible, absolutely terrible. You just can’t explain how the family must feel, it’s clearly a mistake, a split second decision that went horribly wrong.
Jayden (pictured on his dinosaur themed fifth birthday) was described by his father as a ‘blessing from heaven’ while his mother wrote ‘you make me proud, happy, happy and I will always be your biggest fan who loves you so much. holds’
“It gives you goosebumps.”
SES chief Rob Cunneen said first responders at the horrific scene are “taking care of each other” amid ongoing flood rescues.
In the past 24 hours, SES volunteers have conducted six flood rescues and responded to 112 calls for help.
For current flood warnings in NSW, visit the NSW SES website.