Tuk tuk driver clings on to vehicle washed away by river during heavy rain

A tuk tuk driver and his passengers scrambled to save their vehicle after it was washed away while crossing a river in heavy rain.

Jenelyn Paunal recorded her uncle brave the strong currents while struggling to pull the tuk tuk off the river in Negros Occidental, the Philippines on July 30.

The nervous niece said they were driving with the tuk tuk alongside two other vehicles when they was suddenly swept by the swollen river in their way home.

Two passengers drowned and two others are still missing.

Her uncle had to eventually let go of the tuk tuk and swim to safety.

Jenelyn said: "We were almost home from the birthday party of a relative when their vehicle was swept away by the water.

We could only watch from afar as they tried to pull it." Jenelyn said they came from a birthday party and used two tricycles to bring a total of 11 people to and from home.

She added that the weather was fine when they went to the party so they crossed the river without knowing that the rainwater from the mountain had already caused the river levels to rise.

Two people in the convoy died.

There identified as Jovelyn Banaag, 48, at Edmund Samson, 17 while another two went missing.

Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management office said they are still conducting search and rescue operation for the two missing people along the Binalbagan river that transcends several towns in the province.