QUICK thinking and years of training helped local man Keith Blackman save two people trapped in a car that crashed into an irrigation channel this morning.
At approximately 5.45am, Mr Blackman, who is the SES North-West Support Unit controller, was driving to work along McCallum Street when the vehicle in front of him veered off the road and plunged into an irrigation channel.
When he got out of his car, Mr Blackman called Triple Zero as he discovered the vehicle had sunk below the surface and heard a woman screaming for help from the passenger seat, said a report from the SES.
He entered the water and helped the woman roll down her window and escape the vehicle.
Once she was safe she told Mr Blackman her husband was still inside the car.
Mr Blackman re-entered the water and returned to the submerged vehicle, opening the car door and dragging the man to the surface.
He waited in the water with the man until emergency services arrived.
Police said they believed the man suffered a seizure at the wheel.
Mr Blackman, who has volunteered with the SES since he was 12, said he hadn’t done anything special.
“It’s just something that happens,” Mr Blackman said.
“If you see something like that, you have to do something.”
The driver of the vehicle was taken to Swan Hill District Health for treatment.
