VIDEO shows the dramatic moment a £47,000 taxi sank to the bottom of a Spanish port – as the crew of a luxury yacht battle to stop the stricken vehicle damaging their vessel.
The six seater vehicle slowly sinks as the crew try to manoeuvre the vehicle away and throw a heavy fender between the taxi and yacht to prevent any damage.
The bizarre clip was captured in Alicante Port and shows the Mercedes Benz Viano nosedive into the sea.
The incident reportedly occurred when the taxi driver forgot to the handbrake on.
Luckily, the customers the driver had been sent to pick up at the port were not in the vehicle, and the car has now been removed from the sea by local police.
Benidorm Holidays uploaded the clip to their page ‘Benidorm Weekender’ with the caption: “Wonder what the driver was thinking.”
The footage begins with a man wearing red shorts and a white shirt standing beside a large Mercedes Benz Viano – which is slowly sinking into the sea.
One man runs on to an adjacent boat and grabs a black buoy – he then throws it beside the taxi, but it doesn’t make any difference.
The two men and other passerby’s stand and watch as the £24,000 six-seater slumps slowly into the clear blue water.
At one point, the taxi’s windscreen wipers appear to have been activated – and wipe pointlessly as the car descends further into the depths of the sea.
After a few minutes, the car begins to tip forward nose first and within seven seconds is almost completely submerged – with only the boot visible in the water.
A small fountain of bubbles erupts as the vehicle is slowly swallowed up by the sea, and the two men on the adjacent boat try desperately to keep it in sight.
On social media, James Fenwick said: “My guess is the driver was thinking ‘Oh s***’.”
Kevin Garvie joked: “An amphibious machine they told me. Unsinkable they told me. Solid as the titanic they swore. Fuckin c***s
John Halligan wrote: “Scuba from the comfort of your transfer.”
While Ellie Pickstock admitted: “Something I would do tbh.”
A spokesman for Benidorm Holidays said today: “The report we have is as follows. The taxi was called to Alicante Port to collect some customers.
“But he did not put the handbrake on, so when he has got out the car it has rolled into the sea.
“There was no one in the car at the time, and the Police local have now had the car removed.
“There was no further police action on this matter.”
