Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Firefighter tells of rescuing pilot and transplant liver from burning plane in Birmingham

This is a follow up to my previous post about this organ transportation miracle.

by Steve Myall, Daily Mirror

A FIREFIGHTER who rescued a pilot – and a transplant liver – from a burning plane has spoken for the first time about his brave actions.

Lead firefighter Nick Jordan forced his way on to a Cessna plane which crash-landed in fog at Birmingham airport last month.

He pulled the pilot to safety and scooped up the boxed organ, which was delivered to a hospital in the city where a successful transplant operation went ahead.

Nick told the BBC's Inside Out programme: “I’ve gone over it and over it, waking up at night, thinking about it. Luckily for us, everything came out well.

“Both guys came off alive and the liver transplant was an added bonus.

“The smoke was so thick that visibility was impossible. So I felt around to make contact with the pilot.

“It was about seven minutes from the moment we got the call to getting everyone off.”

The plane’s first officer escaped on his own.

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