Driver pulled to safety as crashed car erupts in flames

Driver pulled to safety as crashed car erupts in flames

The burned out car driven by a 29-year-old Swiss man lies upside-down on the sidewalk beside a damaged phone booth after slamming into a power pole and truck and bursting into flames in Hat Yai in the early hours of Thursday.
The burned out car driven by a 29-year-old Swiss man lies upside-down on the sidewalk beside a damaged phone booth after slamming into a power pole and truck and bursting into flames in Hat Yai in the early hours of Thursday.

SONGKHLA: Passersby pulled an injured Swiss man to safely from his wrecked car just before it burst into flames after hitting a power pole and parked truck in downtown Hat Yai in the early hours of Thursday.

The crash occurred about 3am.

The Honda City sedan with Songkhla licence plates was seen travelling at speed before smashing into the roadside pole, said Pol Capt Wachiraphan Chairat, duty officer at Khohong police station in Hat Yai. It then hit a parked pickup truck as it overturned and came to halt with smoke pouring from it at the entrance of Soi Chum Uthit 4, off Ratyindee Road.

The driver, identified as Gary Ferguson, 29, a Swiss national, was rescued from the car by local people just before the vehicle erupted in flames. He had head injuries and severe bruising. Rescue workers called to the scene rushed him to Hat Yai Hospital.

The car was still engulfed in flames, upside-down on the sidewalk in front of a Krungthai AXA insurance outlet when two fire trucks arrived. Firemen took about 10 minutes to douse the fire.

The car was a write-off, the power pole in pieces, the parked car also burned, the front of the insurance office scorched and a public telephone booth wrecked.

A closed circuit camera captured the car travelling at high speed, crashing into the power pole and parked truck, then overturning and smoke begin to pour from it.

People who witnessed the incident rushed to help, pulling the driver from the vehicle as flames began flickering from it.

Some people tried unsuccessfully to put out the flames using a fire extinguisher. They then quickly called the Hat Yai municipality’s fire brigade.  

Locals people said accidents often occured in that area because the road curved there. Police said they  would question the driver when he was strong enough.

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