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Two young men saved from burning car

Posted on December 22, 2009, 7:07pm and updated on December 23, 2009 at 8:27 am

A 63-year-old farmer from Furner saved the lives of two teenaged car crash victims when he helped them escape from a burning vehicle on Saturday night.

Peter Varcoe and his wife were travelling on the Robe-Penola Road about 11.30pm when an oncoming vehicle spun out of control at a bend and crashed.

The driver, an 18-year-old Penola man, was knocked unconscious while his passenger, a Furner resident aged 19, sustained minor injuries. Both were cut and bruised and their survival has stunned police.

“We didn’t realise what had happened straight away, it was pitch black,” Mr Varcoe told The Border Watch yesterday.

“We’d started slowing down to turn off on Leggs Lane, then they came around a bend in the road and I saw their lights disappear and the car was out of control.

“We saw the tail lights up in the air and next thing we thought they’d crashed into the bridge. It turned out they landed next to it.”

The vehicle crash landed 10 metres from the Varcoes’ own car, after apparently somersaulting and rolling 150 metres along the drain bank.

After a nervous hesitation, Mr Varcoe said he moved their car around to put headlights on the scene while his wife called triple zero.

He said fate had been on the young men’s side and to say they were “lucky” not to be injured more seriously was an understatement.

“When I shone the lights over the bridge a voice yelled out and I was so relieved,” Mr Varcoe said.

“There’s nothing worse than not knowing what you’re going to find.

“The lad in the passenger seat was trying to get out; his door was jammed and when we finally got it open we couldn’t release the catch on his safety belt.

“I was using brute force, trying to pull it out.”

This was about the time they realised the engine was on fire and the passenger suggested Mr Varcoe try to find something to cut the belt with.

“There was nothing in my car, but the lad was so calm and clear headed that he extricated himself by slipping under the seatbelt,” Mr Varcoe said.

“He was really quite brave.”

However, the driver was knocked out and his door wouldn’t open. If his belt hadn’t come undone when Mr Varcoe tried it his chances of survival would have been slim.

“I eventually dragged him out the passenger side,” he said.

“It all took probably only 10 minutes or less.”

“This just shows the benefit of seatbelts. Fortunately the hood wasn’t crushed, the windscreen had no glass, but was still in shape.

“The boot was pushed in though.”

According to Mr Varcoe, the fire took a while to destroy the car.

“There were no fuel explosions, but the tyres made a hell of a noise when they blew and there were bits of ash flying everywhere,” he said.

“Nothing really went through my head the whole time it was happening.

“You just do what you have to do.”

ELLIE TURNER

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