too many excavators have gotten stuck, and sunk, underwater... this one was sadly too much trouble to get out for the insurance company. There just aren't enough experienced excavator operators out there that regularly get these unstuck... I've seen a dozen or more pulled out, and even posted the videos. It's very time consuming, but not difficult.

this machine has a brand new engine in it, so after several months of recovery attempts, and the insurance company paying out out on it for a total loss, the home owner wanted someone to come pull it out for basically free in return for making a YouTube video about the recovery. There are a LOT of people doing "unstuck", underwater, and recovery videos on Youtube now

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1095834346299776&set=pcb.1095835599632984