The 10-year-old boy who shielded his younger sister from the wreckage of the medical plane that crashed in Philadelphia last week has a "miraculous" recovery, as reported by the family.
"Dad, did I save my sister?" was one of the first things Trey Howard asked his father after waking up from emergency brain surgery, said Andre Howard Jr. He had gone out to buy donuts with three of his children when the plane crashed on Friday night, he commented.
"It sounded like a missile was firing bullets, metals against my car, against the other cars," Andre Howard told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia. He added that he immediately reversed his car while his son shielded his sister and told her, "Duck!". Trey grabbed his sister and Howard heard the glass of the vehicle shattering, he said.
"I turn around and there's a piece of plane metal sticking out of my son's head," Howard recounted.
Andre Howard mentioned that he used socks and another man provided his shirt in an attempt to stop the bleeding in the boy's head. A police officer quickly took them to the hospital. Doctors warned the family that he might not survive his injuries, but he has been improving every day.
He woke up from surgery and almost immediately asked about his sister, after his father assured him that he didn't miss the Super Bowl game between his favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Kansas City Chiefs, Howard said.
The Friday night accident resulted in the death of the six people on board the medical plane, including a girl who had been receiving medical treatment at the Shriners Children's Hospital.
A seventh person inside a vehicle died on the ground, and another 24 people on the ground were injured.
Officials have repeatedly stated that the number of victims may change as the investigation continues.