A SCOTS car crash victim has thanked an electrician for saving her life after he raced to her rescue and pulled her from her flaming car – that exploded just moments later.
Katelyn Ohren, an early years practitioner from Arbroath, Angus, has called Iain Glover her “hero” after he made the “life saving” decision on Saturday.
The 21-year-old was involved in a horror two car crash on the A933 Arbroath to Brechin road causing Katelyn’s Volkswagen Polo to burst into flames.
Quick-thinking motorist Iain, 39, spotted the incident and rushed to the vehicle before pulling Katelyn out – moments before the car exploded.
The impact of the crash had left Katelyn’s legs completely numb, leaving her unable to get out of the car herself.
She was quickly rushed to hospital and was left with a fractured sternum and severe bruising and cuts across her body.
Katelyn’s friend Roisin was in the car at the time of the crash but managed to escape to call emergency services.
Katelyn took to Facebook yesterday to publicly thank Iain for saving her life.
She said: “Now that I’m finally home from hospital, I just wanted to say how extremely grateful both me and Roisin are for all the emergency services, and all the kind helpful people that surrounded us with support at the scene.
“I would also just like to give an extra special thank you to the gentleman who made the quick life saving decision to get me out of the car when it caught fire.
“Iain Glover from Carnoustie I believe is the gentleman who helped me from the car.
“And would love to give him a personal thanks if anyone knows him to tag him that would be greatly appreciated!”
“Me and Roisin are both so lucky to still be here and, although we both have severe bruising and cuts and I have a fractured sternum, we are very lucky to not have any life threatening injuries.”
Iain’s wife Elaine managed to spot the post and put Katelyn in touch with her hero.
She commented: “Hi Katelyn, it’s Elaine, Iain’s wife, so glad you girls are OK and you are back home, Roisin’s dad had messaged me to let me know how you guys were.”
Speaking today Iain said: “We were the second car on the scene, the first one drove round the crash.
“Instinct just kicked in. I’m a trained first aider, but this was my first time using it in the real world.
“I just kind of went into auto pilot.
“The passenger got out but Katelyn was in serious pain, her legs were numb. The flames were getting higher and we had a decision to make.”
Iain revealed how another passerby, that he knew only as Bob, ran to a bus further back in the traffic queue to get a fire extinguisher.
Iain added: “Bob and I lifted her out of the car.
“I told her ‘You have to trust me, I think you’re going to be in a lot of pain.’”
“Adrenaline just kicks in.
“We could see it was serious, I was worried about her having back damage.”
“We took the girls over to our car. My wife looked after them.
“I went to the other side of the car and when I went to come back, I couldn’t because the flames were taking over.
“Anyone would do it.
“I was actually worried I’d done her more damage by lifting her.
“She was taken away on a stretcher with a neck brace on.”
Speaking today, Katelyn said: “I was crying and screaming in pain.
“I was trapped I couldn’t open the door and I felt stuck in between my seat and the steering wheel.
“Roisin managed to shout for help and Iain came over to help, he ripped the door open.
“Words can not describe how thankful I am for Iain.
“He literally saved my life, his quick decision to remove me from the burning car, literally a minute later and I would not be here.
“I would love for him to get some recognition for his heroic actions.”
