Human-Chain Facts

Eight-year-old Olivia Heid and her 4-year-old brother RJ sled off a ridge and vanish into a frozen New Jersey pond. Kieran Foley, 14, loses a boot in the mud and keeps going barefoot. His four friends link arms behind him on the ice. One by one, he hands both kids down the chain to shore.

Jhonatan Gonzalez was hiking the Narrows at Zion National Park with his family - kids as young as 1 - when the calm river suddenly turned waist-deep and raging, choked with logs and debris. He and his brothers planted themselves in the current and formed a human chain. Strangers on the bank grabbed on. Dozens of hikers, including toddlers, passed hand-to-hand to safety. Everyone made it out.

About two million people held hands across three countries on August 23, 1989. Their chain stretched 419 miles, from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius. It is still the longest human chain ever to link multiple countries. They had no cell phones, only radios and buses to stay in sync. Within two years, all three nations broke free from Soviet rule.