You’ve arrived — in deep water!
A couple following GPS directions accidentally drove straight into a marina in South Carolina — and had to be pulled from the sinking vehicle by a brave bartender, according to cops and witnesses.
The man and woman, both in their 60s, were leaving 71 Seafood restaurant in the beachside town of Isle of Palms on Saturday night, when they steered their SUV onto a boat ramp and went splashing into the sea, according to local police.
Johnny Himmelsbach, a bartender at the eatery and former lifeguard, heard the car hit the water and promptly dove in to rescue them, according to The Post and Courier.
“It could have gone a different way. Everything aligned for a perfect rescue,” the restaurant’s manager Christopher Sollom told the outlet.
The unidentified couple — who were visiting the town on vacation — managed to roll their windows down, allowing Himmelsbach to grab them from the partially submerged vehicle, police and witnesses said.
“[He] didn’t even hesitate — he jumped right in and was able to pull two people out of the car before it submerged into the water,” Sollom told WCIV-TV.
As Himmelsbach pulled the pair from the SUV, another employee, Cash Luther, jumped in to help and fellow bartender Shannon Standhardt called 911, the station reported.
Sollom said the couple was in “a lot of shock” after the near-death experience but “happy to be alive” — thanks to the heroic barkeep.
“He’s truly an angel,” Standhardt told the station.“His heroic actions helped these innocent travelers…I can’t say we will ever forget this evening.”
The city shut down the boat ramp for roughly a day as a dive team removed the car from the water.
The tourists “successfully completed a DUI field test” and declined medical care at the scene, Isle of Palms Police spokesperson Sgt. Matt Storen told The Daily Mail.
“There could have been a really bad ending to this,” Storen said. “At the end of the day, two people can go home to their families because….[workers] risked their lives to save others.”
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