Firefighters are crediting passersby with rescuing a woman from a burning car after it crashed on the Nanaimo Parkway Monday.
The accident happened shortly after 5 p.m. when the woman lost control of the southbound vehicle, sending it into a five-metre-deep ditch about two kilometres south of Fifth Street. Firefighters doused a brush fire started by the burning car before putting out the vehicle.
Timothy Doyle, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief, who attended the scene, said it is unknown whether the car was on fire before it crashed.
The woman, possibly in her 40s, was the sole occupant and was pulled out of the car by four, unidentified Good Samaritans before fire crews arrived.
Southbound traffic was halted for several minutes while emergency crews dealt with the scene. The woman was rushed to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Her condition is not known.