Dad praises delivery men for boy's rescue

Two delivery men are being hailed as heroes for rescuing a six-year-old boy from the icy waters of Bras d'Or Lake.

Chris MacLeod and Peter Guillena got an emotional thank you Friday from the boy's father.

"It's unbelievable. It's overwhelming what they did," said Glen Peck, from Eskasoni.

Peck's son, Kobe, was waiting for a school bus Thursday afternoon when he accepted a dare to walk on the ice in Crane Cove.

The little boy was about 15 metres from the shoreline when he fell through.

MacLeod and Guillena, who were making deliveries for Central Supplies, a business supply company, saw Kobe crash through the ice.

While Guillena radioed for help, MacLeod broke through the ice and waded in to pull the boy out as he was just about to go under.

Kobe was taken to Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney and later released.

MacLeod shrugs off any suggestion that he's a hero.

"I just feel like I did what needed to be done. It was just a young boy in need of some help," MacLeod said.

Peck's wife died several years ago. Today, he's still trying to come to grips with his son's close call.

"God help them, and God help me, I guess. I'm just so pleased that I have my son right now," Peck said.

Kobe gave the two men a shy hug.

MacLeod and Guillena said it's a twist of fate that they were anywhere near the little boy on Thursday.

They normally follow a different route for deliveries, but they changed their routine that day because of a forecast for bad weather.