A 92-year-old Killwarra man who crashed his car down a three-metre drop was saved by passing motorists after they spotted a fire starting near the old Holden Commodore on Thursday.
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The man was unable to get out of his car for about 30 minutes after the fire was put out until he was freed by the SES and airlifted to the Alfred Hospital with injuries including fractured ribs.
The result could have been worse had the elderly man not been travelling well below the speed limit on Wangaratta-Yarrawonga Road at Killawarra.
Senior Constable Scott Mundy said the man was not far from home when he ran off the road at about 1.30pm.
“All indications are that he’s just run off the road and the car’s flipped on its side,” he said.
“First witnesses on scene have put the fire out so he’s lucky it was a busy road.”
The rescuers happened to have dry chemicals in their vehicle, which were sprayed on oil that had spilled from the Commodore and caught fire.
Senior Constable Mundy said because of the man’s age, he was unable to climb out of the car that had landed on the driver’s side.
He said paramedics were initially concerned about the driver’s vital signs, especially because he had low blood pressure and a history of ill health.
Firefighters helped the SES reassure the man during the rescue as volunteers removed the roof from the vehicle so they could get to the man without lifting him out the car.
Paramedics took him directly to an air ambulance than landed in a nearby paddock.
They flew the man to Melbourne in a stable condition as a precaution.
The Wangaratta Fire Brigade was quickly on the scene and doused the oil spill to ensure the fire was out, before pouring water on the dry chemicals that started to blow around in the breeze.
Traffic on the road was not impacted during the rescue until the last five to 10 minutes while the car was towed out of the culvert.
Senior Constable Mundy said police were unsure why the crash occurred, but there were no skid marks and no other cars involved.
He urged all drivers to be safe on the road.
“People need to take care when driving and pay attention at all times to the road,” he said.
A Western Australia man also escaped injury on Thursday morning after rolling his car on the Hume Highway near Chiltern.
The 23-year-old told police he had swerved to avoid a kangaroo in the northbound lane about 5am and veered into the centre median strip, rolling the vehicle onto its roof.
The man, who was the sole occupant, was not injured.
Police are not ruling out fatigue as a factor.