A man has miraculously walked away from the wreckage of a vehicle which split in half, burst into flames, damaged another car and brought down power lines on a major arterial road in Sydney’s west.
The Hume Highway was left completely closed at Villawood near Farrell Road at about 9.30pm on Sunday when a sedan was torn in half after hitting a power pole.
Bystanders filmed the wreckage as police kept people at a safe distance. Picture: 7News
Emergency services arrived to find the vehicle had split in two and caught alight, before the rear of the sedan struck a hatchback being driven west by a 48-year-old man, police say.
The rest of the vehicle was found 200m from the impact site at the pole.
“The 24-year-old driver escaped the wreckage and was assisted at the scene by passers-by until NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived and took him to Royal North Shore hospital,” NSW Police said.
“The second driver was taken to Liverpool Hospital for assessment.”
The vehicle burst into flames after it was split in half. Picture: 7News
According to police, the force of the impact “snapped the pole in half,” bringing down a number of powerlines and shutting off the entire highway for four hours.
The highway had been fully reopened with minor congestion by 8am on Monday morning.
An investigation into the crash has been initiated by Bankstown Police Area Command.
Police are urging anybody with CCTV or dashcam footage of the incident to contact Bankstown Police or Crime Stoppers.