"Save my brother first,"

[Swede]

That he couldn't swim and must have been terrified as floodwaters rose around him, his mother and his little brother only made the 13-year-old's decision more exceptional.

By the time a rescuer had swum to the family's car, Jordan's mind was made up. "Save my brother first," he said.

The man did as he was asked, and Jordan's 10-year-old brother, Blake, was hauled to safety. The teenager and his mother, Donna, were not so lucky. The rope broke as the rescuer tried to tie it around them and the pair were swept through the flooded streets of Toowoomba.

They grasped a tree, but the waters were too strong and mother and son were carried downstream, becoming two of the 10 people known to have died when an inland tsunami roared through the Queensland town three days ago.

"I can only imagine what was going on inside to give up his life to save his brother, even though he was petrified of water," his father, John Tyson, told the Toowoomba Chronicle. "He is our little hero."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/12/australia-floods-kindness-strangers-brothers

[FourScore]

1. This story tore me up. It's so tragic. n/t

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[lillypaddle]

3. Very tragic

Those poor people ...

[BrklynLiberal]

4. omigawd....how tragic.....

[malaise]

5. How sad

What a beautiful child.

[jwirr]

6. Seems to be a time for heroism. Bless his little soul.

[Nordmadr]

7. Envy the country that has heroes, pity the country that

needs them. - Reign of Fire

May there be an esepcially wonderful place somewhere for children too soon deprived of their lives.

[roguevalley]

8. goodness exists. both of them are the picture of good. that brother

I hope he doesn't feel guilty. that was supreme love for him.