The lucky survivor of a horrific crash has thanked the police who saved his life by standing up to their necks for hours in icy water so he wouldn't pass out as he was cut free from his truck.
Jack Wang said from his bed in Canberra Hospital that officers even hugged him to keep him warm.
They took turns with him because the cold in the pitch-black night was so intense that the officers themselves were suffering from hypothermia.
Mr Wang, who owns a Canberra bakery, was the passenger in a three-ton Pantech truck which veered off the Hume Highway near Goulburn in the storm on Tuesday night. No other vehicle was involved. The driver just lost control in the atrocious weather.
After the crash, the driver was freed relatively quickly but Mr Wang was trapped by both legs in the crumpled cab. He spent about four hours up to his neck in icy water as rescuers arrived to cut him free.
He is now so grateful that he invited The Canberra Times to his hospital bed to record a thank you to the emergency services teams which saved his life and his limbs.
Both his legs are crushed and he has undergone extensive surgery. More is to come. He is expected to be on his back for months - but should recover.
The drama started after 10pm when the truck veered off the highway. It crashed down a slope through trees and ended up in the creek between 50 and 100 metres from the road.
A phone on the truck automatically alerted the emergency services that there had been a crash.
But when the police got there, the rain was so intense and visibility so limited that they couldn't see the crumpled vehicle.
At the nearby rest area, passers-by said they had heard the crashing sound so the police scoured the area with torches and found the vehicle and its two occupants.
The driver, with less serious injuries, was cut out first. He has been treated in Canberra Hospital.
"The water had blood and diesel in it. It was extremely dark and murky," Senior Constable David Tooth said.
Sergeant Kellie Macquire, Sergeant Gary Mutton and Constable Cameron Clarson stood in the freezing water holding the injured man, keeping his head above water.
Sergeant Macquire stood on a log in the water up to her waist. The other two were up to their necks. It was 22-year-old Constable Clarson's first big rescue.
"I went into the water and held Jack up so he wasn't sinking. I was just telling him we were working to get him out. Reassuring him," Sergeant Macquire said.
"I held the hand of the driver and talked to both of them, saying there was plenty of help on the way."
Mr Wang says that the police hugged him to keep him warm even as they froze.
The officers play that down. And they laugh at the suggestion of any heroism.
But Mr Wang is in no doubt. "I just want to say 'thank you'," he said from his bed.
The police point out that they were only one part of the rescue operation.
They point to others: the Rural Fire Service, NSW Fire & Rescue, the ambulance service, the NSW State Emergency Service, Canberra medical staff, including doctors who flew to the scene, and the helicopter crew who eventually shipped the injured out and the tow truck company, Goulburn Tilt Tray.
Mr Wang's memory is hazy - for obvious reasons.
"My whole body was under the water and my left leg was stuck in the drivers' side door and my right leg was stuck in the middle and I couldn't move, so that's why one of the police officers decided to go into the water.
"He supported my left arm so my whole body was not in the water.
"The other officer jumped in but still it didn't work, so we waited for the rescue and more people to come.
"In the end, I just lost consciousness. I remember that I was put in the helicopter and they transported me to Canberra Hospital.
"In the creek, it was very cold. The police officers - they just hugged me to make me get some temperature. Otherwise I would get cold in the creek. I was there for at least four hours."
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