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Rescue by the fire department
Photo: Hakon Mosvold Larsen / EPA
The rescue workers in the Norwegian capital have completed a rather unusual mission. Two people were able to escape from their car, which had fallen into the water, into a floating sauna in the Oslo fjord on Thursday. After the car sank, the two car occupants were "fished out of the water by a floating sauna," the police wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
In a video from eyewitnesses that the newspaper “Verdens Gang” published online, you can see a person standing on the roof of a Tesla car. The vehicle is already half submerged.
Then a second person comes from inside the car. Shortly afterwards the car goes under - and the floating sauna is there. According to media reports, the two car occupants are uninjured.
Floating saunas are available for rent in several locations in the Oslo fjord. Some of them have a motor and are mobile. "I gave full throttle in the direction of the people who pulled themselves out of the car," said Nicholay Nordahl, who drove the rescue sauna. Together with two other sauna goers, he heaved the two people on board. They could have conveniently warmed up there straight away.
Apparently there was confusion about the parking mode
The police don't yet know exactly why the car was in the ice-cold water. According to the Verdens Gang, the driver said he assumed the car was in parking mode on the edge of the fjord when he stepped on the accelerator. “Then it fell into the water,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. "It was a terrible feeling."
The fire department got the car out of the harbor basin with the help of a crane. Floating saunas are an integral part of the harbor scene in Oslo and can be rented. In addition to the permanently moored sweat chambers, there are also mobile versions in which the sauna session can be combined with sightseeing.
jok/AFP