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Venezuelan national Liriannys Longart stood near the banks of the South Oropouche River on Wednesday and recounted, in halting but heartfelt English, the desperate efforts by herself and others to save a woman whose car had plunged into the river two nights earlier.

Longart lives in a rented apartment near the river in Debe. Around 9:45 p.m. on Monday, she was sharing a meal with two other women when she heard the sound of a crash. They ran out onto the Bunsee Trace roadway and saw the car in the river.

“We saw the car floating. People came out. Some didn’t want to go in the water because they couldn’t swim. But I wanted to go. I told myself I have to try,” she said.