Hero truckie reunited with mum, young son after horror M1 smash
There was an emotional reunion on Tuesday for three people brought together in the most terrifying of circumstances
A mother and her young son met up with the truck driver they say saved their lives by driving his burning rig away from a deadly crash on the M1 before their car could smash into it.
On Monday, they were strangers in a fuel of fire, but now they are bonded by their brush with death.
Garry Ryan, 68, was driving the ethanol tanker that ruptured on the M1.
He was behind a truck when it smashed into another truck parked on the side of the road.
"I felt it hit and I knew it wouldn't be too good because if he's hit the side of me, he's obviously opened her up," Mr Ryan told 7 News.
With his tanker ablaze and carrying 50,000 flammable litres, he courageously drove on, to get further away from nearby cars.
"There's people around, you know, this is on fire, so it's not going to end up really good, try and get into the clear, " he said.
Behind him, Rowaine Benson was in a car along with her 12-year-old son Drew.
"There was just fire everywhere. That's all you could see: fire," she said.
"I was screaming at mum 'I don't want to die, I don't want to die' and the heat was so intense," her son Drew said.
"I got this red strip up my arm and everything, like our car turned into an oven."
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They escaped by crawling through the surrounding scrub, in no doubt that Garry Ryan had saved their lives.
"If he had stopped in front of me I would have crashed into him and we would have been dead", Ms Benson said.
An emotional Mr Ryan said he was "so happy" the mum and son were doing okay.
"Garry's bravery and courage and his presence of mind in that situation that really prevented it from being a major disaster," his boss Lex Forsyth said.
The bushfire sparked by the tanker blaze alongside the M1 is now contained, but authorities are concerned about hot and dry conditions later this week and the potential for any flare-ups to close the motorway again.
The freeway reopened early on Tuesday morning, with confirmation that one truck driver did not survive the horrific crash.
"I'm sorry that we couldn't help, but there was just too much fire," Rowaine Benson said.
