A 3-year-old girl is in critical condition after being trapped underwater for four to six minutes when the car she was riding in veered off the freeway and landed upside down in a large drainage ditch Tuesday afternoon.

The girl's mother was driving south on I-15 between the two Willard Bay exits along with the child and three siblings when the tread on one of the Dodge Colt's tires separated from the still inflated tire. The woman panicked and slammed on the brakes, causing the small two-door hatchback to veer off the road and roll down a 6-foot embankment before coming to rest on its top in the ditch, said Utah Highway Patrol trooper Aaron Beesley.

While the mother and three of her children, all under 6 years old, climbed out of the partially submerged car, 19-year old Todd Cano, who was driving north on I-15, noticed the accident and turned around at the next exit and returned to the scene.

Cano, a Honeyville resident, jumped into the water and tussled with the child's car-seat straps that were keeping all but one leg of the 3-year-old girl under water, Beesley said.

"After he freed her, he pulled her up on shore and started CPR compressions," Beesley said. "She didn't even have a pulse at first, but she was revived."

The other three children were all taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries; the mother was treated at the scene and released. The 3-year-old's condition was still considered critical Monday at 10 p.m., although Beesley said her condition appeared more encouraging than several hours earlier.

Southbound I-15 traffic was completely shut down for more than an hour following the 3:15 p.m. incident while emergency responders worked and a medical helicopter landed and removed the 3-year-old.

— Jacob Hancock