THE driver of an oil tanker escaped serious injuries after the truck he was driving overturned and caught fire along the Michael Manley Boulevard just behind the Kingston Ice Factory in Kingston yesterday.

As the heavy-duty vehicle caught fire, residents from the nearby communities of Southside and Rae Town rushed to the scene, climbed atop the blazing truck and dragged the driver to safety.

Yesterday, the extent of the man’s injuries were not clear although onlookers said he appeared to have suffered only bruises to his arm.

One of the heroes, Howard Griffiths, also called ‘Biggs’, recalled his role in saving the driver from the raging flames.

“I was about the sixth person on the scene. The fire was burning and the police dem say we mustn’t try save him because the thing going explode and them don’t want lose no more life,” Griffiths said. “But we couldn’t make him just dead so. We fight with the door and struggle till we get him out.”

The lucky driver was then taken to hospital by police.

Another rescuer said he was riding his motorcycle when the truck driver tried to negotiate a corner when the vehicle skidded and jack-knifed before overturning and bursting in flames.

“When we hear some girl a bawl, ‘don’t make him dead,’ we face the heat and help him although the police dem a come tell man fi mek the man stay deh and bun up,” the man said.

After the man was saved, the rescuers say they had to cool down in the nearby Kingston Harbour.

The truck was loaded with gasoline and some of the flammable liquid oozed into a nearby gully leading to the harbour and also caught fire.

Despite fears by the police officers on hand that the truck would explode, hundreds of persons gathered in order to get a glimpse of the action. A small explosion in one of the culverts leading to the gully caused a minor stampede as crowd members scampered to safety.

The blaze was put out by two units from the Fire Department, when firefighters doused the fires with water before using foam to cool down the truck and gully.