Police warnings about the dangers of driving across rivers now carry much greater weight after two officers demonstrated just how perilous a pursuit it can be.
A police vehicle was swept into the crocodile-infested Victoria River in a remote area of the Northern Territory, forcing the occupants to scramble to safety. Both officers were uninjured in the drama although they were forced to walk almost 15 kilometres to get help.
The incident happened at the Dashwood Crossing as the police were travelling from Yarralin, 265km south-west of Katherine, to Lajamanu.
The pair had made the crossing before and deemed it be safe to do so again, but they ran into trouble about 55 metres into the river crossing and were forced to abandon their vehicle.
Nobody else was in the vehicle at the time it was washed off the crossing.
The ABC reports that the Victoria River is famed for its large saltwater crocodiles and last year a 3.75-metre specimen that had been hunting cattle was caught only two kilometres from the crossing.
Dashwood Crossing has now been labelled by authorities as impassable.
