Journalist falls into river during ill-fated boat interview - inept rescue attempt follows

There is a long history of reporters falling off, into and down things, but this televisual pratfall must surely be among the finest ever executed

The moment the news reporter tumbles into the water

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

There is a long and [proud?] history of reporters falling off, into and down things, but this televisual pratfall must surely be among the finest ever executed.

In attempting to make a splash (see what we did there) during her boat-based interview with the local mayor the reporter went rather overboard (see above), and ended up falling into the water.

The mayor, confusingly, appears to initially attempt to expedite a rescue with his mayoral chain.

Given the smallness of the chain this is unsurprisingly unsuccessful.

It then falls to the quick-thinking boom operator to be the hero (although we're not entirely sure whether he was merely attempting to record the hapless floating reporter out of his own amusement).

Finally someone throws her a flotation device as the current pulls her away down river. Perhaps she should be grateful that she wasn't sacked on her first day for swearing at the viewers, or had an attack of the gibberish mid-report. Also, at least she wasn't running.

We shouldn't laugh really. If the story seems a little too good to be true maybe it is - there has been some suggestion that the video is not all it seems, and may in fact be faked.

We'll leave you to make up your own minds...