Mudflat chancers who put their lives on the line attempting to save their hire car from the rising waters of the Bristol Channel sparked a rescue by hovercraft.
The pair waded out into the waters in a final desperate bid to reclaim their rented motor from the tide at Brean Down in Somerset.
However, as well as failing to shift the Ford Fiesta - one of six vehicles to get caught in the area last week - the would-be salvagers ended up triggering a rescue by the Burnham Area Rescue Boat (BARB) charity, which scrambled a hovercraft as a crowd gathered on the beach.
And although the call for help came too late to save the car, BARB chairman Mark Newman said the main thing was seeing everyone make it back to shore safely.
"Once it became clear that the car could not be saved, we wanted to ensure that the two motorists were safely out of the water and not putting their lives at risk by trying to pull the car from the sea," he added.
The men, who have not been named, are believed to be Taunton residents who had hired the car for a day out at the seaside.
They were reported to have been "shaken", but unhurt.
