Stamford firefighters battled crumbling ice and a winter storm to rescue two people trapped after a truck broke through and sank in the frigid waters beneath.
U.S. firefighters rescue civilians from icy river
Video filmed by the local fire department of the Connecticut city of Stamford showed about a score of rescuers helping to extend an aerial ladder over the ice to reach the couple in the sinking vehicle.
Some rescuers, wearing yellow protective suits, swam through the freezing waters to pull the stranded occupants to safety before their white pickup truck sank in the 79-acre (32- hectare) beach-fringing Cummings Park on Long Island Sound.
According to a statement on the Stamford Fire Department's official website, a male passenger was taken to hospital just after being pulled out, but a woman who had been riding in its rear cargo area declined medical aid.
Firefighters and divers stayed behind to help lift the vehicle out of the water.