A HORRABRIDGE man has been hailed a hero after rescuing three people from the scene of a car crash seconds before their vehicle went up in flames. Civil engineer Bill Bowen pulled the three young occupants from the Vauxhall Cavalier after it was in collision with a wall at a new roundabout in Plymouth Road, Tavistock in the early hours of Sunday morning. The 37-year-old man, who had been travelling home with his girlfriend after a night out and came across the accident, ripped off the driver?s side door to get to the driver and two passengers, one of whom was unconscious. Seconds after pulling them to safety the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The back seat passenger, a 16-year-old girl, received spinal and internal injuries in the collision and is being treated at Derriford Hospital. The two men, in their 20s, suffered minor injuries. They are all from Horrabridge. Mr Bowen?s prompt and courageous actions have been praised by fire chiefs. Sub officer at Tavistock Fire Station Glenn Arundel said: ?Mr Bowen saw smoke coming from the car and straight away set about getting the occupants out. ?There is no doubt that had he not released them at that time they would all almost certainly have been killed or very seriously injured. ?He did extremely well as the car was severely damaged by the impact with the wall.? The fire brigade was alerted to the accident by Mr Bowen?s girlfriend Leah Reynolds and two teams of firefighters from Tavistock used three hose reels and breathing apparatus to extinguish the blaze. Mr Bowen said his only thought when he saw the car ?glowing? was to get everyone out, not for his own safety: ?I just did what I had to do ? the boys in the car were in shock and did not know what was going on,? he said. ?I pulled them out and then someone else who had stopped helped me with the girl. Shortly afterwards the fire brigade arrived and the fire was well alight by then. ?We were just very lucky we saw the car. A couple of minutes later and it could have been a different story.? Officers are appealing for witnesses to the accident which happened around 1.15am. The vehicle had been travelling towards Tavistock on A386. Anyone with information should call 08452 777444.
