Strangers form human chain to rescue man from a burning car

Strangers rescued a man from a burning car by forming a human chain.

A driver had crashed his car down an embankment in Palm Bay, Florida, and people pulled over to help free the trapped driver.

But police say he suffered a head injury which made him incoherent and he struggled with officers who tried to free him.

The bystanders linked arms and pulled the driver free of the car which could have exploded at any second.

One witness, Shannon Perez, told NBC News: "All of us were kind of just trying to help out trying to find tools to break windows screaming across street for fire extinguishers, and just kind of anything we could do to get this person out of the car- because it did catch fire.

She added: "Everyone just kind of jumped in just to save this person. So it was really impressive to watch, to be a part of. You know it was a miracle and a blessing just to see the kindness and the courage involved in that, the bravery."

Sergeant Steve Shytle, from the Palm Bay Police Department, said: "Because of the gentleman that was fighting us we weren't able to make it up the side of the hill up to the roadway.

"The citizens that were all there, basically what they did is they made a chain. And they - there was five or six guys, that went arm-to-arm, chained down to us and we were able to grab a hold of the last guy."