MIRI: Two friends sprung into action when they saw a car overturned after hitting a roadside vase near Pelita Commercial Centre about 1am Thursday and pulled the 45-year-old driver to safety.
A fireman is seen inspecting the vehicle at the accident scene.
Firemen carry the 45-year-old victim to an ambulance.
According to a source, the driver was driving alone heading towards Permyjaya from the city centre, when the car suddenly went out control and veered into the roundabout before it crashed into the vase.
Lucky for him, Saffery Sylvester, 26, and a friend, who were just coming out of the Miri Indoor Stadium and heading to Permyjaya, were coincidentally passing by the area, and saw a car by the roadside.
“Worried that there might be people inside the car, we pulled over and dashed to the scene to check,” Saffery said when met at the scene that morning.
Saffery’s instinct was right for there was a man on the driver seat alive, but unconscious.
They (Saffery and his friend) immediately pulled the man out of the car, by smashing the glass window since they could not open the door because it was locked from the inside.
Other eye-witnesses said they saw thick smokes starting to come out of the bonnet.
Someone must have called the fire station because a few minutes later, a fire engine came. Soon after, an ambulance also came to take the injured driver to Miri Hospital.
In a separate incident at Bakam around 7am yesterday, three people were lucky to survive a crash, after a car they were travelling in went out of control before it turned-turtle by the roadside.
People from a village nearby who happened to pass by helped to get them out of the vehicle.
They sustained light body injuries and were sent to Miri Hospital.