A middle-aged woman is in hospital after being rescued from the River Danube and successfully resuscitated following a dramatic search operation on Budapest’s Buda embankment in the early hours of Sunday.
The incident unfolded after a passer-by heard the woman calling for help while she was being carried downstream by the river.
Passer-by raises the alarm
According to Hungary’s National Ambulance Service (Országos Mentőszolgálat, OMSZ), the witness immediately contacted the emergency services after spotting the distressed woman struggling in the water. However, while the emergency call was still in progress, the woman disappeared beneath the surface and was lost from sight, prompting an urgent multi-agency search.
Coordinated search by police and paramedics
Police officers from the Water Police and ambulance crews arrived at the scene within minutes and launched a coordinated search operation. While the Water Police searched the Danube by boat, paramedics moved along the Buda embankment, scanning the water with powerful searchlights in an effort to locate the missing woman.
The incident took place on the Friedrich Born embankment near the Várkert Bazár (Castle Garden Bazaar) on the Buda side of the Hungarian capital.
Woman pulled from the river without vital signs
The search ended successfully when Water Police officers located the woman and pulled her from the Danube. At the time of the rescue, she was not showing any signs of life.
Officers immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while transporting her to the nearest dock. Ambulance crews took over advanced life support as soon as the rescue boat reached the quay, with police officers continuing to assist throughout the emergency treatment.
Successful resuscitation
The joint efforts of the emergency responders ultimately proved successful. According to the National Ambulance Service, the woman regained stable circulation before being transported to the hospital.
She was admitted to the emergency department intubated, sedated and on mechanical ventilation. The circumstances surrounding how the woman ended up in the Danube have not been disclosed.
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