Three young people were swept away on Friday by a flash flood in the Udine region, northern Italy. The images of victims hugging each other one last time before disappearing create emotion.
A final, heartbreaking embrace. A man and two women were filmed by witnesses hugging each other before being swept away by a flood of the Natisone river, in northern Italy on Friday May 31.
The lifeless bodies of two victims, Patrizia Cormos, a 21-year-old Italian, and Bianca Doros, a 23-year-old Romanian, were found a kilometer downstream, reports the Corriere del Veneto. The search continues to find Cristian Casian Molnar, the companion of the young Romanian woman, aged 25.
According to the Italian press agency Ansa, these three friends had decided to walk along the river despite a weather alert and the presence of numerous signs indicating the dangerousness of the site, prone to rapid floods.
The small group quickly found themselves trapped by the rising waters after reaching a small pebble islet in the middle of the river. As the water level rose dangerously around them, the three young people contacted emergency services and held on tightly to each other while waiting to be taken care of.
Arriving on site, firefighters positioned themselves from a bridge to throw a rope to the victims but none managed to catch it. The images filmed on site then show the three young people being carried away one by one by the waves. The power of the current and the ravine below left little doubt about their chances of survival.
The region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in northern Italy, has been hit by heavy rainfall in recent days, causing several floods.
