TV Reporter Rescues Driver From Sinking Car in Brisbane Floodwater

An Australian television reporter put down his phone, swam into floodwater and helped pull a driver out of a car that sank seconds later.

Will Murray, a journalist with the ABC, Australia's public broadcaster, was reporting on flooding at Morayfield, north of Brisbane in Queensland, on Thursday. A man drove a four wheel drive through water covering Buchanan Road. The vehicle stalled, started to float downstream and began to sink, the ABC said.

Murray called Triple Zero, the Australian emergency number, and handed his phone to his camera operator, Liz Pickering. He could see the driver at first. Then the man disappeared from view inside the sinking car.

"I saw him drive in and immediately his car started floating downstream, so I rang Triple Zero," Murray told the ABC. "Initially I could see him, but he disappeared from my sight within seconds, so I made the call to jump in."

A door that would not open, then one that did

A bystander, Daniel Hainey, swam out with Murray. Hainey had been nearby with his family and saw the car settling deeper into the water. "The car began to slowly sink deeper and deeper, and that is when I thought, oh no, this is not looking good, so I started swimming in there," Hainey said.

The two men reached the car and tried the closest door. It would not move. They climbed onto the back of the vehicle and thought about breaking the rear window. Murray then braced his feet against the car and pulled on the rear passenger door. It swung open.

The driver made his way to the open door. Murray and Hainey pulled him out and guided him into shallower water. Moments later the car was completely submerged.

"The pair of them definitely saved that man's life," Pickering said. "No doubt about that."

Rain that filled a road in hours

About 170 millimetres of rain, 6.7 inches, fell on Morayfield on Thursday, the ABC said. Heavy rain had soaked much of the Brisbane region that morning, and roads across the area flooded fast.

Australian emergency services repeat the same warning every wet season: never drive into floodwater. A road that looks shallow can hide a washed out surface, and a car can float in water that barely reaches the doors. The Morayfield driver got out because two men were standing close enough to reach him in time.

Why the video travelled

Pickering kept filming, and the footage spread far beyond Queensland overnight. News outlets in the United States picked it up on Thursday, and the clip was still being shared on Friday morning. Murray told the ABC the three men hugged once they reached shallow water. "All three of us gave each other a big hug and were just so relieved," he said.

The driver has not been named. No injuries were reported in the accounts published by the ABC and Reuters.