Just in front of them on the road was Paul Ewert, a train driver for Pacific National Trains, travelling back from Tocumwal.
He was travelling with his colleague and train driver Joel Pring and Allan Cogger, who was driving them both back to Melbourne after their train was cancelled.
Paul was sitting in the passenger seat staring out the window at the dry fields.
A cluster of trees briefly covered his view, prompting him to turn back to the front only to be confronted with a semi-trailer coming toward them.
“No Al’’ Paul recalled screaming, as his friend Allan slammed on the breaks.
“That was it, I shut my eyes and held them tight,” Paul said.
The semi-trailer came around a sweeping curve, missing his own side of the road and instead heading straight for the cars in front of him.
The truck driver slammed on his brakes, swinging the truck into a bent position, jackknifing it, leaving the cars in front of it no choice but to pray for a miracle.
The white Commodore Paul was in, was hit by the truck on the driver’s side and rolled down the embankment to the side, catching fire on impact.
“It was only a spilt second but it felt like an eternity and then by the end of it I realised I was alive,” Paul said.
“I was in great pain, but my passenger door was open and I dived onto the ground.”
Andrew and his family were travelling behind and watched the event unfold in front of them.
“I was following the car that got hit and the truck driver was coming the other way,’’ Andrew recalled.
“He just wandered onto our side of the road and the poor guy in front me had no chance.
“I looked at the missus and told her, ‘This is going to hurt’ and I swung it left straight over the edge and it was that close that we hit the Commodore that the truck hit.”
Within moments, it was over and Andrew turned to see his partner and child, panicked but alive.
“As I came too, they’re both screaming and I thought that’s good, that means they’re alive,” Andrew said.
Seeing the Commodore in front of them on fire and a hurt Paul rolling out of the vehicle Andrew ran to help.
“The first thing Andrew said was ‘the car’s on fire we have to get everyone out’ and I look back in the car and Allan was deceased,” Paul said.
"He had gash on his forehead and he wasn’t bleeding. You could tell straight away he wasn’t with us.
“I looked in the back seat and my workmate Joel was subconscious.
“I had a smashed pelvis although I didn’t realise it then … Because I put his passenger foot out when the car crashed, it saved me from getting head injuries and dying, but it broke my pelvis.”
Paul hopped around the car on his left leg with Andrew, as the fire picked up its pace, attempting to open the doors to get Joel out.
“I realised the back window was smashed and after some yelling and slapping we got Joel conscious enough to know where he was,” Paul said.
The situation started looking dim as both men struggled to pull Joel out of the burning vehicle, which hit Andrew with a frightening reality.
“The scariest part of it was when we were trying to take him out, the fire was creeping towards us and a part of my mind thought, there might be a time where we have to leave him,” he said.
“It was the most horrific thought to have because he was alive and we wanted to get him out.”
However, with Joel punching his way up through the window and Andrew and Paul pulling, they managed to get Joel out, just before the car went completely up in flames.
The brave actions of Paul and Andrew saw the pair presented with bravery awards.
In 2019, the Royal Humane Society of Australasia presented Paul with the Silver Medal and, in 2020, Andrew with the Clark Medal, which recognises the most outstanding case of bravery.
On Tuesday, March 15, it was announced they were being recognised by the Federal Government as well.
Andrew is to be presented with a Bravery Medal, Paul a commendation for brave conduct.
As deserving as they both are for risking their lives to save another, they remain humble, insisting it was what anyone would do in the situation.
“I wouldn’t like to go through it again,” Paul said.
"You don’t think about what’s happening at the spur of the moment, you just think I want to get my mate out of the car.
“You don’t think about the pain, it was a matter of it’s what we had to do."
“I never felt like this earnt me recognition it’s just what we did, you just do it,” Andrew said.
"I’m sure someone has done something braver than I did.
“For my children and other people who come across the story, I hope it informs their decision if they ever end up in a situation they can help others."
