An American woman drowned trying to save her son after they were hit by several large waves in Italy.
The shocking video, captured by a cell phone camera, shows the woman — identified by Italian police as 49-year-old Anne Sharrie Duncan — standing with her son and a friend on a pier in the southern resort town of Positano Saturday night when they are hit by the wave.
Duncan, who lived in nearby Naples with her husband, could be seen being swept into the sea with the 12-year-old boy, according to positanonews.it.
At that point, the man shooting the video, who police said was a Brazilian tourist, dropped the phone after filming the shocking footage of the woman and her son being swept up by the rough waters.
Witnesses said the woman was able to push her son toward rescuers before she was carried away by the large waves.
“As soon as we saw what happened, we jumped into the water,” said Matteo Lucibello, a local fisherman. “We threw over a life vest hoping to save mother and son.”
The boy, who was not identified by police, survived.
Another witness, Andrea Sanguigno, said he took off his clothes before jumping into the current.
“I ripped off my pants and jumped right into the water,” he said. “Unfortunately, the woman was dead by the time we got to her.”
Lucibello said he “jumped in to help” because it was the right thing to do.
“I thought these people were going to lose their lives and we had to do everything we could to save them,” he said.
Most of Italy was hit by heavy rains over the weekend.
Positano, a small port town of about 4,000 people located along the picturesque Amalfi Coast, is a top tourist destination.
Positano, which has had many famous visitors over the years such as Ernest Hemingway, has also been featured in several films, including “Only You” with Marisa Tomei and “Under the Tuscan Sun” featuring Diane Lane.