Petter Solberg hailed a hero after powerboat crash rescue

Petter Solberg Powerboat Rescue Petter Solberg hailed a hero after powerboat crash rescue

Photo: pettersolberg.com

Petter Solberg was involved in the rescue of two men who became trapped in a powerboat, after a crash happened at the weekend in Norway, according to wrc.com.

Solberg had been taking part in the PokerRun powerboat festival in Stavanger, at the behest of the Johs Lunde marine group, when the incident occured. The boat behind Solberg's, with five passengers onboard, flipped over at 185 kph and two became trapped in the hull.

Commenting to wrc.com Solberg explained:

We saw what happened in the mirror so immediately turned around and went to help. The scene was quite a mess, there were three injured people already out of the boat but two were still inside. My co-driver dived in and went underneath while I helped the others onto a rescue boat. Then I jumped in too.

It was a big boat and it was impossible to see much so we had to feel our way around. My co-driver got the belts off one of the guys and got him out but we couldn’t get the belts off the last man. In the end there were four of us with a knife trying to cut him free, but were in the cold water for about 10 minutes so it was hard to feel anything much. Finally we managed to get him out.

The two trapped men, aged 39 and 48, were both taken to hospital with serious chest injuries. By Sunday evening their conditions were described as serious but stable. One other passenger remains in hospital with less serious injuries. The other two have been discharged.

Solberg added:

I’ve been through a lot with rallying but this was a frightening experience. I’m so relieved that the two drivers seem to be getting better. The most important thing is that they make a speedy recovery.

The Norwegian media have hailed Solberg a hero after his actions in rescuing the two men.

Source: wrc.com