Overview
- A Brazilian-plated car drove through a locked safety gate while boarding the Puerto Alba Posse–Porto Mauá ferry and plunged into the Río Uruguay after the gate gave way.
- Ferry crew and bystanders pulled the lone occupant from the vehicle before it sank; local officials and the mayor of Porto Mauá said the driver was uninjured.
- Barca Porto Mauá said the car floated about 100 meters after entering the water and then sank, and the company filed an official report with the Autoridad Marítima Argentina.
- Multiple witnesses recorded the event and some reported the driver held a cellphone, a claim being examined alongside the possibility of mechanical failure by Argentine and Brazilian fluvial authorities.
- Recovery teams have been working to locate and retrieve the submerged Ford Ka and the incident has prompted renewed scrutiny of ferry loading procedures and gate enforcement at the international crossing.