Parramatta Eels NRL coach Jason Ryles has been hailed a hero after helping rescue a woman from her burning car in Wollongong.
The dramatic rescue unfolded as Ryles was driving home along New Mount Pleasant Road following his team’s loss to South Sydney on Thursday night.
The coach spotted a car flipped on its side with flames shooting from it and a young woman trapped inside, standing upright but unable to escape.
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Ryles immediately pulled over and leapt into action, joining several other drivers who had stopped at the scene.
“What an incredible story this was,” Sunrise reporter Jake Lyle said.
“It happened just as Jason Ryles was driving home absolutely stewing after Parramatta’s loss to South Sydney on Thursday night.
“He spotted this car flipped over on its side, flames shooting out the side of it, and a young woman trapped inside.”
Still wearing his blue Parramatta Eels polo, Ryles and the other good Samaritans worked together to smash through the car’s glass window using a metal bottle.
It was Ryles who ultimately pulled the young woman from the vehicle to safety.
The rescue happened in the nick of time, with the entire car engulfed in flames just three minutes later.
Police arrived on scene shortly after the rescue.
Ryles later said the incident happened so quickly and admitted it snapped him out of the mood he was in following Thursday’s game.
“I parked the car down the road so my kids couldn’t see what was happening, just in case,” Ryles told the SMH.
“There was a guy already there. He smashed the back window with a Yeti bottle, then I grabbed the girl out of the car.
“It happened pretty quickly. Three minutes later, the car was fully alight. The girl was fine. She would have been in her 20s and on her way home from work. She was just in shock.
“I won’t lie, I shit myself, and it was pretty scary. But you do what anyone else would do and see if you can help. Before you know it, you’ve got your head in a car. The other fella did most of the work. He cut his hand. I was probably more suited to getting the girl out because of the size of me.”
The woman’s condition has not been disclosed, but she was fortunate the Eels coach and other motorists were on the scene when they were.
