Wooden leg in Amsterdam river startles passersby

A lost wooden leg badly startled two women in Amsterdam. A "very alarmed" person called the police after she spotted a leg in the river and thought it might be a body, the police said on Facebook.

At the scene, responding officers saw two ladies waving them down. The two women pointed the officers towards the leg floating in the water, but did not dare go any closer.

"In the water we indeed saw a leg wearing a sneaker. The leg was on the side and I could easily grab the foot", one responding officer said on Facebook. The officer carefully pulled the leg out of the water. "It felt heavy but gradually the leg became lighter. There was no body attached to it. It turned out to be an artificial leg."

When the officers tried to locate the two women who reported the leg, to put their minds at ease, they were nowhere to be found. "The anxious feeling of the reporters was easy to understand, it looked a little lugubrious", the officer said. The leg was taken to a police station.