A German woman reported missing in the Danube River after she went looking for her submerged cellphone has been found safe. Authorities spent most of the weekend searching for her with helicopters and scuba divers.
Image: picture-alliance/imageBROKER/J. Tack
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A German search and rescue operation to find a woman thought to have drowned in the Danube River while searching for her lost cellphone has ended — with the woman being found safe and sound at home.
Rescue crews worked for hours scouring the Danube over the weekend to search for the 31-year-old, who was reported missing in the river on Friday evening near the Bavarian city of Neu-Ulm.
She had entered the river to search for her phone, and bystanders notified police after she appeared to vanish in the swift current.
Authorities deployed helicopters, sonar boats and scuba divers, but until Sunday morning found no trace of the woman.
Police said the woman had been able to swim to the banks of the Danube by herself after she disappeared late Friday night. Since then, she had been unreachable.
Police have said there may be consequences for the woman, as she did not notify police upon returning home. As for the phone, a police spokesperson said it was still at the bottom of the Danube.
German police have stopped more than 100 sports cars found racing down the autobahn at speeds of up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour. The drivers are suspected of taking part in an illegal race through Europe.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Wüstneck
Lots of very fast cars
Police stopped the sports cars after being notified by other drivers on the autobahn alarmed by the speed at which the vehicles were traveling. Two helicopters were involved in the operation near the northern German city of Wismar.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Wüstneck
Petrolheads galore
All the cars bore the inscription "Eurorally," the name of a Norway-based organization that runs group trips for car enthusiasts. If the drivers really were taking part in such an event, the planned route, according to the Eurorally website, was to take them from Oslo, Norway, via Kiel in Germany and on through Poland to the Czech capital, Prague.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Wüstneck
Paying for the pleasure
The Eurorally trip costs drivers up to €799 ($892). The price includes "parties at every destination" on the four-day trip, according to the Eurorally website. Rostock police said that many of the cars bore Norwegian license plates. Other road users had called to complain of drivers traveling at speeds of around 250 km/h (155 mph).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Wüstneck
High-end sports cars
Many of the cars, like this Lamborghini Diablo VT, would have had a six-figure price tag when new. While much of Germany's autobahn highway network has no speed limits, around 30 percent of the network does limit drivers to 130km/h (80 mph) or lower. Holding races on any public roads — speed limited or not — is illegal.
