This is the dramatic moment tourists and locals joined together to pull a pickup truck that was washed away by the sea back to shore.<br /><br />The black Nissan was parked on the edge of the sand next to a seafood restaurant in Phuket, southern Thailand on July 28 afternoon.<br /><br />However, the distracted driver left the automatic transmission in neutral while he ate dinner with a friend. <br /><br />The ocean tide came in and lifted the the car into the sea before dragging it out into the surf.<br /><br />Frantic passers-by ran to help and tied a rope around the vehicle. Footage shows dozens of locals and foreigners living in the area as well as stranded tourists helping to pull the car back to the sand.<br /><br />The driver appeared during the chaos and thanked the crowd before having his vehicle towed to a nearby mechanic’s garage to repair the water damage.<br /><br />He said: ''I should have been more careful where I was parking. I never thought the sea wold take my car. I'm so grateful to everybody for helping as I can't afford to buy a new one.''<br /><br />Local authorities said the unfortunate event had led to an incredible togetherness of the locals and tourists. <br /><br />One lifeguard involved in the car rescue added: "After the car ran into the sea everybody hurried to pull it back up to the shore. It was an amazing scene to see the togetherness.''
