Driver’s lifesaving act before car burst into flames on Queensland highway

A Queensland man’s quick thinking has seen him narrowly escape a deadly situation after his car suddenly burst into flames on a highway.

A Queensland man has had a lucky escape after freeing himself from his car just seconds before it burst into flames on the side of a Queensland highway.

Mark Couch was driving along the Bruce Highway, coming from Toowoomba towards the Sunshine Coast at 2am on Monday when the unthinkable happened.

One moment everything appeared to be normal and the next he could barely see the road.

“I thought I was driving through heavy fog but it was smoke coming up through the engine bay,” he told 7News.

Mark Couch’s car burst into flames seconds after he escaped. Picture: 7News/Channel 7

Mr Couch said the experience was ‘really terrifying’. Picture: 7News/Channel 7

Realising the danger, Mr Couch pulled over on the side of the road and tried to exit the vehicle, but found that the doors were jammed.

Finding himself unable to exit the car, he managed to kick the driver’s side window open and climb out – a moment of quick thinking that saved his life.

Seconds after he escaped the vehicle it burst into flames, with footage showing his Toyota HiLux completed engulfed in an inferno while a panting Mr Couch watched on from a safe distance.

“It was really terrifying. I am just glad adrenaline kicked in,” he said.

Photos show the melted interior of the car. Picture: 7News/Channel 7

The car was destroyed by the fire. Picture: 7News/Channel 7

Emergency services were called and were eventually able to put our the fire, with the Sunshine Coast local branding them “outstanding”.

Photos from the aftermath shows the car completely gutted by the fire, with the outside scorched and the interior melted.

Mr Couch was reportedly taken to hospital but has made a full recovery.

He told 7News he was “extremely lucky and fortunate” to have escaped unscathed from the “freak accident”.