A Montreal couple helped save a man’s life after pulling him out of a burning car on the Ville-Marie Expressway on Sunday.
Vanessa Lopez and her boyfriend Kyle Raposo experienced some harrowing moments as they were driving to Sunday dinner around 4 p.m.
“Everything seemed perfect. We went around the bend and we almost slammed into traffic,” said Lopez, a nurse.
Heading westbound, they came upon a crash at the University St. exit.
“As soon as we saw it and realized what had happened, Vanessa was out of the car before I even stopped the car,” said Raposo.
The Surete du Quebec said the driver was going too fast and crashed into a concrete divider. Within minutes, the vehicle was on fire.
“I tried to open the door but it was really jammed in there. I was able to lean in through the window, which was open, and tried to undo his seatbelt. It was really awkward because the smoke was building up,” said Lopez.
“I just jumped onto the divider and helped my girlfriend,” added Raposo. “She had the seatbelt off and nobody else wanted to go in because already there was a lot of smoke in the driver’s compartment.”
Due to her training as a nurse, Lopez said she knew moving the victim was risky, but the car was on fire and they only had seconds to act.
“Somehow there was a doctor, an anesthesiologist there, and he helped me immobilize his head,” said Lopez. “He was really struggling to breathe, moaning a lot, his eyes kept flicking to me and rolling back, the eyes, that is what I was focusing on.”
Within a few more minutes, fire crews arrived and an ambulance took the victim to the hospital, where he remains in the ICU.
“It’s so hard to process everything that happened. It's incredibly surreal. Kyle was amazing he was cool as a cucumber. I was shaking the entire time. I just kept telling myself, ‘Just stay with it,’” said Lopez.
In the days since, both Lopez and Raposo are reflecting on the dramatic scene.
“You're thinking about how every second counts, how easily everything can be ripped away,” she said.
