A man has been pulled from a burning ute in Alice Springs after he suffered a medical episode on his way to work and ran off the road.
Two police officers were among the first to arrive at the scene where they found a fire in the engine growing bigger by the second, a Northern Territory police spokeswoman says.
"I could not get to the driver's side door," one of the officers recalled after rescuing the man on Friday morning.
"I went to the passenger door, but I could only partially open it because of the angle of the car.
"Two guys helped by ripping the door open."
The officer then pulled the semi-conscious driver, 53, out of the burning ute and with the help of the other officer and a passer-by, carried him to safety.
"Thankfully his legs were not caught in the foot-well," the officer said.
"If his legs had been stuck it would have been horrific."
Paramedics later took the man to the Alice Springs Hospital, where he remains in a stable condition.
The officer who entered the car later said he was "just doing his job and that is what we go to work for everyday".
Australian Associated Press
