BETHEL, Alaska (AP) – A pair of bystanders helped rescue two young children who fell through thin ice in western Alaska.

Cory LePore Sr. tells KYUK-AM that he heard screams coming from the slough that runs behind a Bethel convenience store, and he saw a boy and girl waist deep in the water last week.

LePore says he instructed the children to roll to a patch of nearby solid ground.

He was running to his truck to grab a pallet when he saw the girl falling back into the freezing water, but then Joseph Joekay appeared.

Joekay pulled off his shoes and socks and dashed into the water. He carried the girl and boy on his back to stable land.

An ambulance responded, but both men say the children seemed fine after the ordeal.

Information from: KYUK-AM, http://www.kyuk.org