Army bomb disposal hero helps drag 3 from fireball as plane crashes on A40
THIS remarkable picture shows a plane in flames after it crashed on a dual-carriageway. Even more remarkable is that everyone on board survived.
Two heroes, one of them a bomb disposal expert, rescued the pilot and two teenage passengers from the blazing light aircraft.
The plane hit overhead power cables as it attempted an emergency landing on the A40 near Abergavenny in South Wales before overturning and bursting into flames.
A plume of black smoke was visible from two miles away after the crash at around 11am yesterday – but the pilot managed to avoid hitting any vehicles on the road, although cables falling on to a nearby railway line forced a train to make an emergency stop.
Motorist Daniel Nicholson, 46, and Joel Snarr, 35, who is a former Army bomb disposal officer, ran to the blazing wreckage and worked together to rescue pilot Stuart Moore, his nephew Jack Moore, 19, and his 16-year-old niece.
Mr Snarr, who had been driving with his wife, said: ‘I grabbed the lady by the belt and pulled her out. The pilot then put out his hands and I heaved him out. We got them away from the plane, which was getting hotter and hotter.’ The army veteran, who has completed three tours of duty in Afghanistan, two in Northern Ireland and one in Iraq and was medically discharged this year, said the survivors were in ‘total shock’.
He said: ‘The young lady had taken a blow to the head. By the time we were walking away it was completely on fire. It was an inferno.’ Meanwhile retail manager Mr Nicholson, who was first on the scene, was trying to kick in the windows to rescue the occupants.
‘The plane came from nowhere, and if it had been two seconds later it would have hit us,’ he said.
‘The plane literally burst into flames in front of me and it had landed upside down. I screeched to a halt, and didn’t hesitate – I could see there were people in there.’ He said the woman began kicking the window from the inside of the aircraft as he did so from the outside. He helped free two passengers.
‘As there was no fire my side, I knew I could get access’, he added. ‘ She was terrified, screaming because she could see the fire.’
The plane is believed to have been a Guernsey-registered Cirrus SR22T GTS, built in 2014.
Shortly before the crash, the pilot had taken off from Abergavenny airfield after picking up his niece and nephew. They were flying to an airfield near Old Trafford to see Manchester United play Cardiff City.
After his ordeal, Jack Moore took to social media to share his experience and thank the heroic bystanders who saved his life. He wrote: ‘Absolutely unbelievable that me and my family have walked away from this. We are very lucky, lucky people.’
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the three people on board were treated at the scene for minor injuries and taken to hospital as a precaution.