This is the dramatic moment a family is washed away in their car after trying to drive across a flooded river in Malaysia.

The vehicle - including a mother and her eight-month-old son - was trying to cross a narrow bridge covered with water after heavy rainfall in Penampang, Malaysia, on April 29.

But the power of the river swept the car away over a 6ft-high waterfall and was carried away downstream.

Onlookers and the emergency services managed to reach the vehicle after it drifted downstream and became stuck on a rock. The family were all rescued and were uninjured.

Good Samaritan Dunnysius Min, 23, who helped to free the family, said: "We hurried to the location and saw a car drifting, but stuck to a rock on the river. In the vehicle, there are five individuals in which a mother is holding her eight-year-old son. I immediately took him out of the river.''

He said other victims were rescued with the help of the people and the public using rope and buoys even when it was a torrent.

Dunnysius's friend, Yuhana Samsudin, 26, added: ''Me and my friends heard the screams of people and called the emergency services.''

A spokesman for the Operation Center of the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia said he received a call at 3.50pm before sending 10 members with two machines from the Penampang Fire and Rescue Station.

He said: ''The incident involves a vehicle with five individuals crossing the river before it was swept away by a flash flood. However, all victims were rescued by the public before the crews arrived.''