AN HEROIC driver has told how he pulled three Darwen men from a burning car moments before it exploded following an horrific crash.

Kevin Willis pulled 32-year-old Jason Kenealy from the blazing Vauxhall Corsa, though tragically he was unable to save him.

In his final words, passenger Mr Kenealy told his rescuer ‘I’m all right mate’ and asked him to go back and help his two unconscious friends.

Mr Willis, a 50-year-old HGV driver, went back into the burning car twice to pull out the other two men, laying them down on grass nearby moments before the car exploded.

Police praised Mr Willis for saving the two men’s lives.

The crash happened near the Bob’s Smithy Inn in Chorley Old Road, Bolton, at about 8.50pm on Saturday. The three men in the Corsa were in collision with a family of five, including three children, in a people carrier.

Mr Willis said: “It was horrendous, but I remembered my first aid course. They said if someone is screaming they are not all right, but you know they are alive and breathing, so I knew I had to help the lads in the Corsa because they weren’t moving.

“My wife kept shouting ‘Kevin, Kevin, the car’s going to blow up’, but I thought I can’t just leave them there.”

Mr Willis had to rip the front door off the Corsa to pull out Mr Kenealy, and had to go in through the boot to rescue his friends.

The Willis family, who are from Wigan, had been on a day out in Manchester and were in Bolton because they took the scenic route back through Horwich.

The 24-year-old driver of the Corsa has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and is due to be questioned next week after being treated for a broken ankle.

His other passenger, Shaun Corran, 22, also from Darwen, was yesterday still said to be in a ‘very serious’ condition with brain injuries, while the 41-year-old mother from the people carrier was also still in hospital in a critical condition with deep cuts to her leg.

The father, 42, has been discharged from hospital, along with a seven-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, but a six-year-old boy is still being treated in hospital with a bruised lung.