Two foreign tourists had to be rescued after their pickup truck became stranded in the middle of a fast-flowing river as they attempted to drive across it.
The shocking scenes unfolded yesterday morning (10 Jun), when the man and woman, along with their two dogs, tried to drive their 4×4 through the water but the vehicle became stuck midstream.
Emergency services were called shortly before 9:45am after the couple dialled 112 for help.
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Firefighters from the Gemona del Friuli station were sent to the scene near Osoppo, in Italy, along with flood and river rescue teams and a helicopter from the Venice fire brigade’s flight unit. A regional emergency medical helicopter was also deployed.
When rescuers arrived, they found the medical helicopter already operating a winch rescue, with the woman being lifted from the vehicle.
The man had managed to get out of the stranded pickup along with one of the dogs and was making his way across the river by swimming towards the bank.
River rescue teams then stepped in to help guide him and the dog safely to shore, as reported by Need To Know.
Firefighters later reached the vehicle and rescued the second dog, which was still inside the submerged pickup truck.
The fire brigade’s incident commander then informed the helicopter it could return as the rescue operation continued on the ground.
In a later recovery operation, an excavator from a private company was used to retrieve the vehicle, which was found to still be operational.
Both the man and woman, from Israel, were checked over at the scene by medical staff and were found to be unharmed.
Carabinieri also attended to reconstruct the events.
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