A bizarre video showing a camel towing a car stuck on a snow-covered Russian road is making the rounds on social media.

When your 4×4 off-road vehicle fails you in the fierce Russian winter, and even a tractor can’t pull you out, you may still hope for a miracle to happen – at least if you’re in Saratov, where this viral video was shot.

Uploaded to social media, the footage shows a camel trying to pull the car out of snow on a dual-carriage road. The animal, controlled by its cameleer, succeeds at the third attempt as cheering voices are heard in the background. At the end of the video a tractor is seen on the roadside standing still – apparently after failing to dig out the car.

The surreal scene was filmed outside the city of Saratov, 836 km southeast of Moscow. The camel’s owner told local media he gives rides to children at the local circus on the weekends.

A camel is certainly not a typical match for the Russian winter but locals in Saratov have to be creative as the city was hit by a series of massive snow blizzards since the beginning of the year. People on social media are reporting snow banks taller than a man in the center of the city and along the surrounding motorways.

Snow storms prompted heavy traffic jams and disrupted railway connections, with local authorities having to ask the military for help to shovel away the snow.

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