Video shows HERO paraglider saving woman clinging to sunken car as alligator circles in Florida canal
MIAMI, FLORIDA: A dramatic video with over 30K views shows how a paraglider, Cristiano Piquet, came to rescue a woman after her car ended up in a Southwest Miami-Dade canal with an alligator nearby. The incident took place on Sunday morning, October 30, located near the 20400 block of Southwest 192nd Street.
As stated by Miami Herald, Piquet, a real estate broker in the Miami area, had been recording his flight when an alligator splashing in the water caught his attention. He told the outlet, "I turned around to get a shot of the alligator, and I saw a car under the water. I flew closer to the car and I saw a woman on top." The paraglider's GoPro camera shows Piquet landing in a nearby field and running over to the woman as he shouts, “You need help?” In the video he uploaded on Instagram the next day after the incident, which now has over 2K likes, the woman can be heard shouting, "Oh my God! I fell with my car in here. Help."
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Narrating the details, Piquet said, “In that moment, I think God told me, 'my friend, land and save that one life.' We landed between power lines and uneven terrain…it was a terrible landing situation. For some reason, I was calm.” Piquet and his friend saw a neighbor on the other side of the canal and called him over. His video captured the moment the neighbor pulled the woman to safety. Piquet told WSVN, “So we threw her a rope, and she was free, she was alive. Everything happened so fast, and after we got her to safety, we called 911.” "They came, and they gave her the help that she needed. I wish I would know more about why she was there," he added.
According to NBC, Miami-Dade first responders were called to the canal at 8.35 am, stated the department spokesperson Andrea Rudchenco via email. As a precaution, a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue diver also checked the area of the canal for additional victims and found none. On the other hand, the woman was rushed to a hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries. Her identity and condition are still not known.