Four women had to be rescued from a precarious position in their rented electric motorboat yesterday. They had gotten stuck on the top of a dam in Texas and the boat was already tipping precariously. According to the rescue services involved, the friends had been busy chatting and had therefore missed the signs warning them to stay away from the abyss.
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The photos that the Austin-Travis rescue services in Texas shared on Twitter yesterday alone make for sloshing armpits. A light blue motorboat hangs nose over a steep precipice. There are four women in the vessel who could fall meters down at any moment.
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The dam on display is the Longhorn Dam, which is located in the Colorado River below the Texas capital of Austin. The bottom of the structure is a kind of lock with a 5 meter deep abyss. Cars, cyclists and pedestrians pass over the top of the dam. The water around the dam is a popular spot for boaters and boat and canoe rental companies.
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Police spokesman Brad Smith said the women were busy talking as they approached the dam. “They were chatting and therefore not paying attention,” he told local media.
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The moment I attached the line to their boat, it looked like the boat was going to fall
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Rope
James Kane, who works for Retro Boat Rentals, received a disturbing call from one of the passengers and rushed to the foursome in distress. He tied a rope to the motorboat, called 911 and waited for help. “The women were pretty calm on the phone,” he says The Post on Friday. “The moment I attached the line to their boat, it looked like the boat was going to fall.”
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Yet even the idea that the boat would fall 4.5 meters did not seem to disturb the women. ,,It was pretty crazy, they stayed so calm. I don’t know if they didn’t know what to do or if they just couldn’t see the abyss of the dam.” The waterfall on that side ends on a large concrete slab: if you fall, you hit something hard.
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‘Signs not to be missed’
According to Kane, warning signs have been placed in front of the dam. Vessels are warned to stay at least 90 meters from the dam. “You can’t miss them. They’ve done a bit the same as on the highway, that you drive against the direction of an entrance or exit.”
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When the rescue services arrived, the women were handed a life jacket and a heavier motor boat was leashed to the boat of the foursome. Both boats then drifted away from the edge of the dam. The women were left with nothing from the incident. Rescuers praised Kane for his prompt action.
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ATCEMS
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