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A dra­mat­ic res­cue un­fold­ed in Port-of-Spain yes­ter­day, as a 57-year-old home­less man clung to a rope above the rain-swollen wa­ters of the East Dry Riv­er, nar­row­ly avoid­ing be­ing swept away be­fore he was res­cued.

On­look­ers watched in hor­ror dur­ing the in­ci­dent, fear­ing sev­er­al times that he was mo­ments from cer­tain death.

The or­deal be­gan around 1.20 pm when a passer­by spot­ted the man hang­ing des­per­ate­ly above the surg­ing cur­rent near River­side Plaza. The wit­ness im­me­di­ate­ly called po­lice, re­port­ing that some­one was in im­mi­nent dan­ger of drown­ing in the flood­wa­ters.