Trigger warning: natural disaster, death

Three friends were captured on camera in a final embrace moments before being swept away by a flash flood in northern Italy.

Patrizia Cormos, 20, her friend, Bianca Doros, 23, and Doro’s boyfriend, Cristian Molnar, 25, decided to take a walk along the Natisone River near Udine on Friday (May 31) afternoon.

As the water levels surged to dangerous levels, the group found themselves trapped and alerted passersby for help.

When the firefighters arrived, they told the friends to stick together from a nearby bridge as they attempted to throw them a rope.

Three friends in their twenties were trapped after a sudden surge in water levels in the Natisone River near Udine, northern Italy, on May 31

Image credits: The Telegraph

According to local reports, the trio were unable to reach it and were swallowed up by the flood waters in front of the rescuers.

The bodies of two women, believed to be Cormos and Doros, were found in two separate locations around 1 km further down the river on Sunday (June 2), as per the local newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Doros was from Romania and had arrived in Italy to visit her parents.

Cormos was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Udine. The young woman had asked her mother if she could join her friends for a drive to celebrate finishing an important exam.

The friends reportedly parked the car near the river to explore a small beach and take some pictures.

The crew who found the bodies described the scene as “heartbreaking.”

The friends were seen in a final embrace before being swept away by the flood

Image credits: The Telegraph

The search for 25-year-old Molnar, who is also Romanian, continues. A team of 40 rescuers is reportedly working on the site. 

The last footage of the friends sees them hugging each other while standing on a tiny island on the river.

“The main element is not so much the rain; it is the power of the river and the very strong currents,” explained Giorgio Basile, the chief of the provincial firefighters in Udine.

“There are gorges, there is a backwash of water, and even for the experts, it is a particularly treacherous task.”

The bodies of 20-year-old Patrizia Cormos and 23-year-old Bianca Doros were found near the river, and rescuers continue to search for 25-year-old Cristian Molnar

Image credits: FRANCE 24 English

Michele De Sabata, the mayor of the nearby town of Premariacco, said the tragedy occurred in “only minutes.”

“They found themselves in an unpredictable situation. Those who live in Premariacco know the river and how conditions can change quickly. 

“The three kids arrived when it was sunny. They could not have known what was about to happen. It only took minutes.”

Heavy floods have affected northern Italy in the past two weeks, impacting areas like Milan, Varese, and Cremona. 

Violent storms also struck the Friuli and Veneto regions in mid-May, and there is further rain forecast in the north of Italy this week, as per The Telegraph.

People reacted to the heartbreaking news of the young friends’ tragedy

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