Harrowing moment three friends are filmed hugging each other before being swept away in flash floods in Italy

This is the tragic moment three friends were seen hugging each other seconds before being swept away during a flash flood in Italy. 

The heartbreaking footage posted on X shows Patrizia Cormos, 20, her friend Bianca Doros, 23, and her boyfriend Cristian Molnar, 25, standing thigh deep in a churning river.

They were last seen alive on Friday when they took a walk along the Natisone River, Udine in the Friuli region.

But the water surged to dangerous levels after days of heavy rain and the group were caught stranded on a tiny pebble island in the middle of the river, clutching each other to try and stop themselves from being swept away.

The chief of the provincial firefighters in Udinehe, Giorgio Basile, told The Telegraph he threw them a rope in a desperate attempt to rescue the group.

But tragically they were 'swallowed up by the flood waters' as he watched and he saw them 'disappear'.

Today, two bodies, believed to be Ms Cormos and Ms Doros, were discovered 1km from the spot. The search is still continuing for Mr Molnar, with the fire service vowing: 'We won't stop until we find the third missing person.'

One of the women made an emergency call to police at 1.35pm on Friday and firefighters quickly arrived.

A firefighter told them to stick together from a nearby bridge and they clutched each other for stability.

One firefighter told the terrified friends: 'Stay together, gather together, hug each other.' 

But is heard later saying in dread: 'Oh no - oh my god.' 

Tragically they were unable to cling on and were swept away as the horrified emergency services watched.

The friends had driven to Premariacco Beach near Udine and walked down to the river. 

Ms Doros was from Romania and was visiting family in Italy when the tragedy unfolded with her boyfriend, who is also Romanian.

Ms Cormos, who was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Udine, had asked her mother if she could go on the trip after finishing an exam.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera quoted her as saying she had asked her daughter 'not to go because she was tired'.

But she had replied to say they were 'just  going to hang out for a bit and take some photos'.

'Come on mum, don't be angry', she had said. 

Emergency workers have been using drones, boats and divers to search the river since Friday. 

A handbag of one of the women was recovered containing the mobile that made their emergency SOS call.

Michele De Sabata, a local mayor, expressed his condolences for the three young friends trapped in an 'unpredictable situation'.

He said locals know all too well how the river can 'change quickly' and the 'three kids arrived when it was sunny, they couldn't have known what was about to happen'.

'It only took minutes', he said.

In the last few weeks, storms and heavy rainfall have left many parts of northern Italy underwater.

Emergency services used dinghies to rescue people from their homes and many cars were left submerged on the roads.

The governor of the Veneto region described the weather as being a 'water bomb'.