A group of good Samaritans jumped into action to help save a 71-year-old man after his car was engulfed in flames on a Minnesota highway.
Sam Orbovich’s vehicle “struck a light pole and then a guardrail” during rush hour on Interstate 94 in Saint Paul, the Minnesota State Patrol told ABC News. Orbovich was trapped in his Honda SUV as it burned.
A group of good Samaritans sprung into action and ran to save Orbovich after seeing what happened.
Kadir Tolla and Tessa Sand, a 24-year-old registered nurse, were among those who rushed to help.
“All I see is there’s a man in the car who can’t get out and needs our help,” Tolla said.
A fiery rescue on a Minnesota highway along Interstate 94 in Saint Paul was caught on video, April 18, 2024.
Kadir Tolla
“I was scared, I was shaking, I was scared. The car completely caught fire,” Sand recalled, adding, “You could feel how hot it was. The smell of smoke was in the air .”
Sand and several other people nearby stopped their cars and rushed to help free Orbovich. Sand ordered the others to shoot at Orbovich’s car doors.
“It was a matter of trying to figure out, number one, how to get him out of the car, so trying to break the guardrail, pull the car, trying to see if we could get him out the side passenger, who was also engulfed in flames,” Sand said.
The Highway Patrol team then responded and smashed the driver’s side window of Orbovich’s vehicle. This gave the good Samaritans the opportunity to pull Orbovich out the window and bring him to safety.
“You could see the fear and panic in his eyes,” Sand said.
Orbovich was transported to a local hospital and survived with minor injuries.
“It’s 100 percent a miracle,” Sand said. “If strangers hadn’t come together to form this community and get this man out of the car, I don’t think he would still be here today.”
ABC News
