Parents of a young hapless girl were left horrified when their daughter sank into a snow hole as they took a walk in the snow.
The young girl
The young girl got swallowed up by the snow hole and the only part of the scared 10-year-old girl that can be seen in this terrifying footage below is her hands as she tries to scramble out of the 10-foot deep hole in the snow .
Her retired firefighter dad, William White, had no idea how much trouble young Samantha was in as wife Hilda filmed the fall on her mobile phone.
They thought she was simply stuck in the snow, but the situation was much worse.
She was sinking. She was getting pulled down into the gap and as her frantic parents and sibling watch on in horror.
Her mum Hilda stopped filming and jumped into the snow to help.
Mrs White told NBC News: "I could hear her but I couldn't see her, so I didn't know how deep the hole was or what she was going to fall into or what was down there. I had no idea."
Dad William added: "[It was] agonizing. Your daughter screaming, 'Don't let me go. Don't let me go daddy.' Wife yelling, 'Don't let her go honey.'”
But he made the tough decision of letting go of his daughter.
"The choice was to let her go and live with that. If something bad happened, or hold on and all three of us end up in the hole," he said.
As he let go and called the emergency services, by remarkable good luck a 12-strong search and rescue team walked by on an exercise.
"They said we're Marin County Search and Rescue, and I was like, 'Oh thank goodness!" Mr White added.
The rescuers used rope to pull Samantha out within minutes.
The incident took place at Castle Peak Trailhead in California, USA.
On Monday the rescue team, who claim they were just in the right place at the right time, were recognised for their efforts.
Watch the video below: