Entertainment
TV reporter Will Murray dives into floodwaters live on air to save a driver
Australian TV reporter Will Murray and bystander Daniel Hainey swam to a sinking SUV in Morayfield and pulled the driver free as cameras kept rolling.
An Australian TV reporter turned into a rescuer in the middle of a live broadcast, swimming out to an SUV that was filling with floodwater and helping free the man trapped inside.
Will Murray was covering the flooding in Morayfield when a driver steered straight into the water. He later said he did not stop to think because he feared the man was about to drown.
Murray said he watched the man drive in. "Immediately his car started floating downstream so I rang Triple Zero," he recalled. The emergency operator wanted to know if the driver was visible. Murray said he could spot the man at first, but within seconds he lost sight of him. That was when he decided to go into the water.
Two strangers in the water
Murray was joined by a bystander named Daniel Hainey, who ended up stripping down to his underwear for the swim. The pair first reached the passenger side of the vehicle but could not force the door open.
They swam around to the driver's side. There Murray managed to wrench the door open so the man could get out just before the SUV slipped under the surface.
Once everyone was clear, Murray called out to the people watching from dry ground: "He's all right!"
Relief and a warning
"All three of us gave each other a big hug and were just so relieved," Murray said afterward. He called the moment very scary but said he was glad everyone came out safe.
He said the rescue showed him how fast a flooded road can turn deadly. His plea to other drivers was blunt: "Please don't drive into floodwaters."
Looking back on his split-second choice, Murray summed it up simply: "Better that you jump in and give it a crack."
