On an ordinary working day in Morayfield, Queensland, a flood that had already reshaped the roads turned suddenly personal. A driver's SUV slipped into deep water and began to sink, and a reporter who had come to document the rising water instead found himself at its edge. Will Murray of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, joined by a bystander whose name the record does not carry, went in after the man inside. Much of what surrounds the moment, including how the driver came to be there and what followed on the shore, remains unrecorded, but the core of it is a small human act in the midd
Australian TV reporter Will Murray and a bystander rescue driver from sinking SUV in Queensland flood
A driver was trapped in a sinking SUV in flood water and at risk of drowning before being rescued.
There was no thinking involved
On an ordinary working day in Morayfield, Queensland, a flood that had already reshaped the roads turned suddenly personal. A driver's SUV slipped into deep water and began to sink, and a reporter who had come to document the rising water instead found himself at its edge. Will Murray of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, joined by a bystander whose name the record does not carry, went in after the man inside. Much of what surrounds the moment, including how the driver came to be there and what followed on the shore, remains unrecorded, but the core of it is a small human act in the middle of a larger, slower disaster.
Will Murray was in Morayfield, Queensland, reporting on the flooding for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation when a vehicle drove past him into deep water. The SUV did not stay afloat. It sank quickly, and the man behind the wheel was suddenly in serious danger.
Murray did not hesitate. Once it was clear the car was going down fast, he ran toward it with a bystander, and the two of them went into the water to reach the driver. In his account to BBC News, Murray put it plainly: the man might have drowned, and that settled it. He said he simply decided to jump in and give it a crack.
The rescue was successful, and the driver was pulled from the sinking vehicle. The report names neither the bystander nor the driver.
Much remains unknown. There is no word on the driver's condition, whether he needed medical care, or why he drove into the floodwater. The account also says nothing about how the rescue was carried out, how long it took, whether emergency services attended, or what road closures and warnings were in place.
Will Murray was working a flood story in Morayfield, Queensland, when a vehicle drove past him and into deep water. Murray is a journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and he was there to report on the flooding, not to take part in it. Within moments the situation changed.
The vehicle was an SUV, and it did not stay afloat. As it began to go under, Murray and a bystander ran toward it to reach the man behind the wheel. The source does not say how deep the water was in feet or metres, only that it was deep enough to swallow the car quickly.
Murray later described the decision to go in to BBC News. Once it was clear the car was sinking very fast, he said, there was no thinking involved. The driver might have drowned, and that settled it. His summary of the reasoning was blunt: better to jump in and give it a crack.
The account that emerged is a short, firsthand one. It names two people who acted, Murray and a bystander who has not been identified, and it names one person in danger, the SUV driver, whose identity is also not given. The report describes the rescue as successful, with the man saved from the sinking vehicle.
What the material does not cover is just as plain. There is no information on the driver's condition after he was pulled out, whether he needed medical treatment, or why he drove into the water in the first place. Nor does it say how the rescue was carried out physically, how long it took, or whether emergency services were called to the scene.
The wider flood response in Morayfield is also outside what has been reported here. Nothing in the account addresses road closures, warnings in place at the time, or how widely the area was affected.
What remains is a clear and narrow set of facts: a flooded road, a car that went in and sank fast, and two people who went in after it. For now, the answers about the driver's wellbeing and the circumstances that led him into the water are the things still to be filled in.
Citações Notáveis
Better that you jump in and give it a crack.— Will Murray, ABC journalist, to BBC News
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