A 5-year-old in a remote Alaskan village carried a toddler a half-mile to a neighbor’s house after they were left home alone in sub-zero temperatures, police said.
The older child got frightened after the home’s power went out, so he picked up the young toddler and carried him to his neighbor’s house wearing nothing but socks and light clothing.
The child walked through temperatures that dropped to 31 degrees below zero in the village of Venetie, Alaska, according to Alaska state troopers.
Both children suffered from cold weather injuries, according to an Alaska Department of Safety press release.
Once the children reached the other home, residents there contacted authorities and state troopers arrived in Venetie on Tuesday to perform a welfare check on the children in the 175-person village about 155 miles north of Fairbanks, NBC News reported.
The troopers reached the remote village via a chartered airplane.
Authorities say Julie Peter, 37, left both children home alone and has been arrested for allegedly endangering a minor.
Peter’s relationship to the children was not immediately known.
Peter is “out of custody” as of Saturday after a court ordered that she be released.