SYDNEY, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- An emergency search was underway for two men who were missing after the car they were traveling in plunged into a river northwest of Sydney late on Wednesday night.
Police in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) said in a statement on Thursday that emergency services were called to reports of a car entering the Macdonald River near the small town of St Albans, 70 kilometers northwest of Sydney, around 11:50 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
Officers arrived at the scene and found that the car had crashed into the river and that one passenger, a man aged in his 20s, had escaped and reached the riverbank, while two other men who were in the vehicle at the time were unaccounted for.
The NSW State Emergency Service and Rural Fire Service have commenced a search of the area for the two missing men.
The man in his 20s who managed to make it to the riverbank was assessed by ambulance paramedics but did not require further treatment.
The incident occurred amid heavy rainfall across NSW that prompted authorities on Wednesday to issue widespread warnings for millions of residents to prepare for possible flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology said on Wednesday that the heaviest rainfall was expected to hit the state on Thursday. ■
