Former Germany international Mario Basler pulled a 59-year-old driver from a smoking car and helped perform CPR after a high-speed crash on the A63 in Rhineland-Palatinate, n-tv.de reported.
The incident occurred on Friday morning as Basler drove toward an appointment in Braunschweig. He watched in his rearview mirror as a vehicle slammed repeatedly into the median barrier and shot backward toward his own car.
The out-of-control automobile grazed another vehicle before veering off the road and coming to a halt in a ditch several hundred meters away, according to n-tv.de. Autobahn police in Gau-Bickelheim later said that a medical emergency caused the 59-year-old driver to lose control.
Basler ran to the smoking vehicle and opened the passenger-side door. Rainer Guth, the non-partisan district administrator of Donnersbergkreis who happened to be driving by, joined him at the scene as another first responder, police records show.
Neither man knew the other beforehand. Together, they pulled the unresponsive driver from the automobile and initiated chest compressions.
“Ich war überrascht, dass doch viele auch einfach vorbeigefahren sind,” Basler told RTL and ntv.
Emergency services arrived to find the driver conscious once again. A rescue helicopter transported the injured man to a hospital, where he survived the crash by Sunday afternoon, an autobahn police spokesperson confirmed to n-tv.de.
“Ich habe das Gesicht des Mannes noch vor mir,” Basler told RTL and ntv regarding the tense moments at the roadside. “Man sollte helfen und man muss eigentlich auch helfen.”
Authorities continue to investigate the exact cause of the crash. Police have not released further details regarding the current condition of the driver.
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