Trapped in her overturned car as icy, murky water poured in, Bernice Montoya prayed. First for a swift death, then for someone to rescue her.

"I was having a conversation with the Lord, telling Him I was ready to go home. But I thought it would be really horrible for my daughter and my son, and the students I work with, to know that I died that way.

"So I prayed for God to bring someone to open the window because that was the only way I was thinking I could get out,'' says Montoya, pulled from her submerged vehicle by passersby who saw her car flip Monday into a water-filled irrigation ditch near Morinville.

The quick action of Darren Perrott of St. Albert, Michael Pawly of Edmonton and Cpl. Matt Savory of the Edmonton Garrison, saved the Edmonton woman's life, RCMP say.

Montoya was on the way to her supervisor's job at the Morinville Christian School early Monday when the accident happened.

She was travelling north on Highway 2 when she moved into the right lane to let a fast-approaching vehicle pass.

Her car shot off the road, flipping over into the watery ditch.

Undoing her seat belt, she turned herself around and began kicking, hoping to break the car's windows and free herself.

As Montoya fought for her life inside the water-filled car, Perrott and Pawly desperately tried to get a door open.

Perrott, who was travelling behind Montoya when the accident occurred, was first into the water. Unable to see inside the car, he had no idea how many people were trapped.

Fortunately, the front passenger door was unlocked.

Pawly stuck his arms inside.

"It was horrible. The water was so black. It was so black you couldn't see anything. I felt around and at first I thought I felt a kid's seat.

"I was panicking. It was like 'This is not happening and I am not going to let it end this way,' '' said Pawly, 29, who works as a services co-ordinator with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

"I ended up grabbing on -- I thought it was a kid's arm or a doll's arm.

"Then she grabbed back at me. I just pulled her out and up onto the bank.''

Savory brought blankets from his vehicle, and wrapped one around the freezing Montoya. Other passersby helped the three men carry her up the steep bank and into Savory's vehicle while they waited for the ambulance.

"I was really, really thankful that she didn't have a new vehicle with the doors that automatically lock because then there was no way we could have done anything. I don't think we could have kicked out the windows,'' Pawly said, relieved Montoya was uninjured.

"She was very brave. I don't know if she was holding her breath or had an air pocket, but she did very well.''

Montoya said the men were the answer to her prayers .

"The man who grabbed my hands. I really want to thank God for him,'' she said, adding she is also grateful to everyone who helped her, including the paramedics and Sturgeon Hospital staff who gave her dry clothes and a cab ride home.

"It was a miracle as far as I am concerned.''