By Richard Hartley-parkinson

  Dailymail

The sheer panic of people trying to flee the Japanese tsunami has been captured in a newly-released video that shows the life and death race to outrun the wave.

The fate of some of those in the footage is unknown as the water rises so quickly that they simply disappear in the swell carrying cars and buildings.

Residents from the town, believed to be called Minami-sanriku, are seen running up the side of a hill to safety as the water behind them closes in on them.

A group can be seen towards the end of the footage desperately trying to pull what are believed to be sick or elderly people up a steep ridge.

A person in a blue coat runs back down the hill to the aid of someone who is stuck. He is aided by another person in a red jacket and as it looks like they are about to succeed the water rises and pulls them into the water.

Distant problem: Clouds of smoke and dust can be seen rising in the distance but many people have already made their way up the hillside

They desperately cling to the person they were trying to rescue but in doing so they are quickly dragged with the tsunami, which struck on March 1.

The camera footage is shaky and pans away at that point, but it appears that he hits a hand rail to a staircase and this forces him to let go. The other two disappear.

Other people are seen running between buildings and up a bank that temporarily slows the water down.

One woman, however, desperately climbs the bank and runs from the wave - carrying a roof towards her - which is moving far quicker than she is. The camera then moves away so the fate of that woman is also unknown.

Desperate: A woman runs as fast as she can and keeps looking back to see where the water is. The wave is moving much faster than her and as the roof moves closer towards her the camera pans away. Her fate is unknown

 

 

Rescue efforts: To the left people can be seen carrying someone at the edge of the photo while others try and help someone up a bank. But their efforts are in vain, right, as the water rises at an incredible speed 

Other new footage has emerged of a car being swallowed up by the water as its occupants drive along a coastal road.

Apparently unaware of the water swelling up behind sea defences just yards away, they continue on their journey.

But then the wave crashes over the barrier and onto the road. It is too quick for the driver and their passengers and soon envelops the car, tossing and turning it as it bobs along the water.