Humble Aussie fisherman in thongs describes how he saved 25-year-old driver from burning car

A quick-thinking fisherman is being hailed a hero after he grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out a burning car to save the man inside.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of Simon Jenke and his cousin, the 25-year-old driver was pulled from the wreckage in the South Australian town of Waikerie, 82 kilometers northeast of Adelaide, and flown to hospital on Saturday.

Mr Jenke said he was refueling his boat for a family fishing trip on the Murray River when he heard a large ‘pop’.

He looked around and saw that a car had crashed into a utility pole and was on fire, with the driver trapped inside.

Mr Jenke grabbed a fire extinguisher from a nearby petrol station before he and his cousin ran over to help the man.

“My cousin had him and pulled his leg out, he was trapped because we didn’t know if the fire would start again,” Mr Jenke said.

“And when you hear the sirens coming, you know everything is going to be okay.”

The pair tried to reassure the man, whose leg was trapped under the mangled front of the car, that he would be okay.

Country Fire Officer Graeme Ward said Mr Jenke’s intervention was crucial.

“The person at the gas station grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran over here and put out the fire, which probably saved the guy’s life,” Mr Ward said.

The driver, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, was transported by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where he was expected to undergo surgery on Saturday evening.

It is believed the man suffered a medical episode that caused him to crash.

Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Jenke and his cousin, the injured man was pulled from the mangled vehicle

Mr Jenke said it could have been much worse.

“If he hadn’t hit that pole, he would have gone over a vacant lot and right over the cliff into the river,” Mr. Jenke said.

“I think his name might have been lucky.”