Quick-thinking action saves man in gas blast

Friday 7th September 2007, 12:00AM BST.

RESCUERS rushed to the aid of a man who was on fire as he jumped out of the back of a van in Albert Street yesterday morning.

The man had tried to a light a gas stove inside the vehicle when it exploded. Staff from two nearby garages came rushing out into the road when they heard an explosion which shook the floor of their premises at around 8.30 am. Garage owner Andrew Ruellan and his staff were confronted with the sight of a burning stove being pushed out of the back of the van, and a man in his 30s jumping out afterwards. ‘His arm was on fire and his hair was singed – I quickly rushed into the garage and got a fire extinguisher and then sprayed it at his body. Then I used the extinguisher in the back of the van,’ Mr Ruellan said.

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