A Calgary family says they are still reeling after their youngest child almost died at a Saskatchewan rest stop when she fell into a septic tank.

Last Thursday, Trevor Pickersgill, Denaie McCarthy and their three girls were on their way from Calgary to Regina when they decided to pull into the information centre near Maple Creek for a rest.

The family of five used the facilities and had a picnic and then the girls, Saraya, Alayna and Nataya, went off to play.

The girls were playing on top of a septic tank lid, pretending it was a stage, when the two older girls stepped off and the lid suddenly moved.

The youngest girl, 21-month-old Nataya, fell almost three metres to the bottom of the tank.

“All three of them were there and laughing. My older two girls they stepped off of it and my baby fell in and I was right there and I tried to grab her,” said Denaie. “I remember seeing her fall and seeing her fold up and go in to the water and me scream and my girls, they’re freaking out.”

Trevor heard the screaming, rushed over and jumped into the tank.

“I jumped in about waist high in sewage water and then she was going through another tunnel and I just got to reach her foot,  her leg in time, like, a couple of seconds later she probably would have been gone for good,” said Trevor.

“I feel like he’s the biggest hero in the world. He saved our family and we’re still whole,” said Denaie.

Workers from the information centre called 911 and helped to pull the pair out with a rope. They were taken to hospital but were fortunate and walked away with just cuts and bruises.

“They checked her out, she had an abrasion in the back and the people that helped us, one of them was a first responder too so a couple of the people helped us out, like extremely well and I’m grateful they were there for us,” said Trevor.

Doctors in Calgary say the Pickersgills need to keep a close eye on Nataya and monitor her for the possibility of concussion or bacterial infection from the sewage.

The family says they came forward to warn other parents so this doesn’t happen to them.

“I’ve heard comments saying my God I’m going to go and check my septic tanks even on private property so,” said Trevor.

Trevor says he went back to the site the next day to take photos to document the incident and that someone had already drilled in a number of screws to secure the lid.

The Saskatchewan government says that an incident like this never should have happened.

“Today, one of our waste water engineers, we’ve got our director of risk management and a southwest building manager, they’re all on site out there, have been out there since this morning. They’re doing interviews, examining the hatch and the tank to find out exactly what went wrong. At this point we don’t have any idea whether it was rusted or worn or broken or tampered with or vandalized or anything like that, we just don’t know,” said Richard Murray from Central Services.

An investigation is underway and the province has ordered an assessment of all 52 of its septic tanks across Saskatchewan.

(With files from Jamie Mauracher)