Caught on camera: Mother and toddler dramatically rescued from sinking car

A mother and toddler were dramatically rescued from a car before it sank completely into the freezing Schinkel River in Amsterdam.

The heart-stopping incident was captured on video and uploaded on YouTube by Dutch media RTL Nieuws on Feb 10.

BBC said that the woman's car had been parked by the Schinkel River when it started to roll into the canal.

The mother tried to unstrap her child from the seat as the car moved towards the river and eventually went in.

Four male passers-by saw what happened, removed their coats and jumped into the river from different directions. They tried to break the car window with a stone but were unsuccessful.

Then, one of them is said to have gone to his own car to grab a hammer, added BBC, and managed to crack open the window.

One of the rescuers, Ruben Abrahams, told Dutch media that jumping in after the mother and child was "quite a natural reaction".

Auto met gezin te #water op de #Sloterkade in #Amsterdam pic.twitter.com/OaPiEB7adb

— Robby Hiel (@PersburoUNN) February 9, 2016

"I think every healthy young man would have jumped into the water," he added.

In the video, the men and the pair were seen being pulled from the river by passers-by.

The mother and child are said to be recovering well and the rescuers have been hailed as heroes, 7 News reported.

wjeanne@sph.com.sg