Episode 10 Close Calls: On Camera

A close call - a moment of danger when life can hang in the balance.

A split second where the outcome could go either way.

I was rooted to the spot with fear.

The difference between disaster and survival.

Our hearts dropped. This was a big crash.

These are the people that've been there and lived to tell the tale.

I need an ambulance.

15 minutes and your number would be up.

Their instincts and resources, coupled with the quick thinking

of others, helped to pull them through.

Could've gone the wrong way. Could've easily gone the wrong way.

And their dramatic experiences were recorded on camera.

I think there was several things that could've killed me,

should've killed me, and didn't.

It's a day they'll never forget.

The day they had a close call.

Today on Close Calls...

A shocking scene in a city centre street

is captured on a mobile phone.

GIRL SCREAMING

A teenage girl is trapped under a tram.

When I noticed the girl,

I immediately thought that her legs were gone.

She was trapped completely under.

It was really frightening to see something like that.

Two boys are halfway home from school when there's

a horrific accident. This is the 999 call.

All the boy's parents can do is wait and hope.

There's an ambulance in front of you, and it's your own son

that's in the ambulance.

You're trying to hold it together, it's very, very difficult.

And an explosion outside a burger bar.

A customer is just a few feet away.

Any unassuming person, if they'd been on top of that,

it would have engulfed them completely.

Getting on a bus, train or a tram is an everyday event for many of us.

But for one schoolgirl it was an event of dramatic proportions.

City centre, Dublin.

A passenger films a schoolgirl lying trapped beneath a 60-tonne tram.

Her urgent screams alert a crowd of commuters.

GIRL SCREAMING

Maja has been hit and dragged along the platform -

she's in excruciating pain.

I immediately thought that her legs were gone.

She was trapped completely under. It was really frightening

to see something like that.

Stunned passengers pour off the busy rush hour carriages.

In desperation, together, they try to heave the tram

from Maja's crushed leg.

16-year-old Maja Dabkowska is a walking miracle.

It's the first day of term and the most important year of her

school life and, as she sets off to catch a bus in busy Dublin

city centre, thoughts have already turned to exams and coursework.

It's a stressful time.

I was so tired. I couldn't sleep all night.

I was so excited or nervous.

In a daze, Maja approaches Jervis Street station

where the Luas - the Dublin tram - intersects the street.

She needs to cross the tram lines to get to her bus stop.

Half asleep and with her mind elsewhere,

instead of walking straight over, she turns onto the busy platform.

It was kind of like a daydream. I don't know how

I managed to get onto the platform.

Two trams go by.

And then Maja makes a massive error of judgment -

she steps out onto the tracks.

I just didn't think there could be a third one coming.

Then I was woken up by the horn from the train.

TRAIN HORN BEEPS

When the train was coming and when I heard the horn,

I just thought, "I'm going to die."

TRAIN HORN BEEPS

Maja has stepped out in front of the oncoming tram.

As she desperately scrambles back onto the platform kerb,

the driver hits the brakes - but it's too late.

It slams into her leg and pins her to the platform wall.

SHE SCREAMS

A passer-by films the aftermath of the collision -

one of the pedestrians looking on is salesman, Glen Whelan.

I was walking down towards the Luas line when I was going to work.

I just saw the Luas immediately stop and heard a little bit of a scream.

MAJA SCREAMS

When I noticed the girl,

I immediately thought her legs were gone.

She was trapped completely under it. It was really frightening

to see something like that.

Maja is conscious but in total shock and pain.

The train dragged me a few metres, to the platform.

My shoe was like ten metres away.

I was just kind of laying there. I was really twisted out.

Then this boy came. He was the first one there.

He gave me a bag, a gym bag, to lean over.

Which kind of stopped me twisting over.

Then people on the train as well,

they realised that there was an accident

and everyone kind of got off.

She's afraid she's badly injured.

The pain was so bad. I never imagined pain like that.

And then I just kind of thought, "I'm going to die.

"Or I'm going to lose my leg."

Passengers and passing pedestrians are in complete shock.

An onlooker calls the emergency services -

it's a job for the experts with specialist equipment.

But Maja's terrified screams spur the shocked crowd

into decisive action.

One person gave an idea that they could push the train off my leg.

He told them to push it, and everyone did.

The crowd of good Samaritans try to heave the 60-tonne tram

away from Maja's leg but only manage to move it a few millimetres.

It was so much better for me but then they had to stop

to get more strength. Then all the weight going back on my leg.

MAJA SCREAMS

There's just not enough people power to lift the tram.

Maja's leg is still under the carriage.

It's been over two minutes since the accident and the pain is unbearable.

MAJA SCREAMS

Someone shouts for extra help and the crowd's number swells.

More people join to add their weight.

With the increased manpower, they try again to free the 16 year old.

There were more people gathering.

There was a good 20 people. Everybody came together to help her.

To push the Luas to the side, to at least get it

an inch off the ground to free her leg.

People began pushing again.

This time, the combined force from the determined crowd

makes a difference. They manage to move the tram.

As more and more people gathered, they kind of... Her leg got free.

Then, after a while, the people could actually drag me out

onto the platform.

After more than three minutes under the tram, she's free.

Maja waits for an ambulance.

The footage reveals she's bleeding and heavily grazed.

But thankfully, she can feel her legs.

At the emergency department,

Maja's legs are covered in cuts and bruises.

Incredibly, she's somehow managed to escape serious injury,

but she can't resist a few snaps for social media.

When the doctor came, he took about 30 X-rays of my leg

from different angles. Then, after a few minutes, the results came back.

And the leg wasn't broken. I was very surprised.

The doctor himself said it was a miracle.

It's been a terrifying experience for Maja

which could have ended very differently.

She's eternally grateful to the scores of people who helped,

although experts advise it's better to wait for the emergency

services to prevent further injuries in serious incidents like Maja's.

When people dragged me out, I was just so thankful that I'm alive.

I didn't know how to thank them. I think I was sitting and kept

repeating thank you to everyone.

And now Maja takes extra care on her daily commute to school.

I'm terrified when I walk past the road now.

I just kind of look ten times.

When things go wrong, there are plenty of people out there to help,

from professional emergency workers to volunteers

and members of the public.

And that is just as well.

It's a summer's afternoon in the village of Pencaitland,

just outside Edinburgh.

School friends Harry and Douglas are taking turns riding

Dougie's bike home from school.

It's a mile to Boggs Holdings, where Dougie lives.

But halfway there, the boys meet with an horrific accident.

LOUD CRASH

A van driver makes this emergency 999 call.

It's Harry. He's lying on the road with a serious head injury.

And he's not breathing.

I remember when I turned that corner thinking,

"This what it's like to lose a child."

At Pencaitland Primary School in East Lothian,

it's just a few weeks before the end of the summer term.

Amongst the pupils in their final year are 12-year-old Douglas

and 11-year-old Harry.

I went to school, which I usually just get dropped off,

then walk through the glebe into the school

and play around the playground with my friends.

And then, after school, came out and started going home with Douglas.

The two friends are heading to Dougie's home,

where his mother, Janet, is waiting to take them to youth club.

The school to the house is probably about a mile.

Just over a mile, maybe.

I remember looking at my watch thinking, "It's about 3.50.

"The boys should be here by now."

I knew they just had the one bike between them,

so I knew they'd be kind of walking up the road and blethering

and, you know, generally being boys.

The boys are taking turns riding Dougie's bike.

They're halfway home and on this road

when a car overtakes them.

Behind the car is a van, but the driver

doesn't see the boys until it's too late.

Seconds later, the driver of the van is dialling 999,

shocked and distressed by what's happened.

In the background, there is the sound of crying - it's Dougie,

who's got up unhurt, having been knocked onto the verge.

But his friend Harry is lying on the road, alongside his crumpled bike.

Harry's not making any noise.

By an extraordinary stroke of luck,

off-duty firefighter Paul Cook

passed the accident just after it happened.

He takes over the call.

Harry's friend was sort of in tears, a bit hysterical.

Harry was not moving on the ground. At that stage, I realised it was

a wee bit more serious than I first thought.

Paul's trained in emergency first aid and recognises he needs to

act immediately if Harry's to have any chance.

When I first got there, Harry wasn't breathing,

his airway was a bit blocked.

Just with a wee bit of fluid and stuff.

So I managed to scoop most of that out.

He started to become a wee bit responsive,

coughing and spluttering.

Then he was just drifting in and out of consciousness.

I was just trying to work on keeping his head still.

The driver was obviously in pieces as well,

which is quite understandable.

I told him just to put the phone by my ear.

Paul Cook has got him breathing again,

but Harry keeps losing consciousness.

Half a mile away at Dougie's home,

his mother, Janet, is beginning to wonder what has happened

to the boys.

I'd just been looking at my watch thinking,

"They should be home, I should maybe text them."

I was just stood outside the back door.

And as I was thinking that, as I was walking in the back door,

I heard Dougie screaming for me. He was shouting, "Mum!"

He came running through the house.

Dougie was too distressed to really explain what had happened.

Dougie's been brought home by two passers-by.

They're hoping Dougie's mum will be able to get hold of Harry's parents.

Meanwhile, at ambulance control, Cara Rearie is trying to

get as many details as possible about Harry's injuries,

so she can pass vital information to the medics who are en route.

Harry keeps drifting into unconsciousness.

It's becoming clear he must be very badly hurt.

It takes Dougie's mum, Janet, just a few minutes to get to the accident.

The telephone call to the ambulance control is open

until the medics arrive.

Harry was lying...

..on his back. Paul had his head between his hands.

Holding his head steady.

There was another two people there. One sat on the other side of him,

one holding his legs, cos he was moving his arms and legs about.

I spoke to Harry. Tried to get him to respond and stuff.

When I asked him to squeeze my hand if he understood what

I was saying, he didn't...there wasn't...he couldn't do that.

I don't know that I realised how serious it was.

It was clear that he wasn't conscious but, you know,

you don't really know what that

means in terms of what the injuries might be or anything.

I don't think I was really thinking about that.

You know, it was more, "I have to phone his mum."

Call handler Cara picks up Janet's voice consoling Harry.

From the roadside, Janet calls Harry's mum, Lisa, on her mobile.

It was about 4.00 in the afternoon.

It was a nice, sunny day.

Then my phone rang

and it was my friend.

Dougie's mum. Sounding quite panicked.

She asked me if I was on my own.

I said, "No, I've got Nick here. Is everything all right?"

Nick, Harry's dad, happens to be on a day off and with Lisa

when Janet calls.

I was remarkably calm. I was like, "Right, OK.

"Don't worry, I'll drive. It'll be fine."

Lisa got really upset very, very quickly.

Like, this is my worst nightmare. And we just drove

the five minutes to the scene of the accident.

I remember when I turned that corner thinking,

"This is what it is like to lose a child."

Later, a hospital neurosurgeon

confirms the extent of the damage to Harry's head.

Harry's injury was immediately life-threatening.

A case of serious head trauma and brain injury.

Solihull in the West Midlands.

Smoke and fire explode from a pavement manhole

only a few feet from the entrance of a busy fast food takeaway.

A customer captures the event on his phone's camera.

Just seconds after he'd walked over this very spot

on his way to get his supper.

Any unassuming person -

if they'd been on top of that, it would have engulfed them completely.

Father of two Shiraz Nawaz often pops into his local

fried chicken takeaway in Shirley, Solihull.

But on a summer's evening in May,

just as he arrives at the shop to order his favourite fillet burger,

he hears an unusual loud hissing noise behind him.

I popped my head into the door of the shop to order my burger

and, in the same kind of motion,

I turned around and started looking over to where I thought this

noise, which was gradually getting louder, was coming from.

In the same motion, I kind of reached for my phone.

And started recording.

And Shiraz cannot believe what happens next.

I saw the manhole and some smoke coming out.

My point was further confirmed when a huge fireball came out

from within that manhole.

The fire would go down and it would just stop.

And then it would suddenly fire up again.

I actually thought that, at any stage, the floor might cave in.

Because it was with quite a gust that the fireball erupted.

So, you know, it went up to about 15ft.

It was very powerful.

Shiraz's main concern is for the people inside the busy takeaway.

The fire had erupted very close to a shop.

And the shop had an awning, like a canopy type of thing,

and there was only, literally I'd say, inches between that fire

and the actual shop. The fire could've easily spread.

At that stage, I decided to stop filming and take ownership

of the situation.

Shiraz is a former gas engineer and his training takes over.

He runs inside the takeaway to warn Sabir Ahmed

serving at the counter.

I heard him say, "Come out!" As soon as we seen that fire,

we had to step out, switch everything off, get out of the shop.

The gas is off, but the fire isn't dying away.

Shiraz dials 999 before instructing Sabir

and the rest of the staff to get out and keep any passers-by well away

from the unpredictable jets of flame.

Any unassuming person -

if they had been on top of that, it would have engulfed them completely.

The fire service arrive and begin tackling the blaze, which has been

caused by a faulty electrical junction box below the ground.

It takes some time to contain it and they have to use foam to put it out.

I have just literally walked over that. I was very, very lucky.

Thankfully he did tell us and warned us about it.

If he didn't tell us, I don't know what would've happened.

And after almost being cooked himself,

Shiraz can finally look forward to his long overdue dinner.

Once everything was under control, I did get an actual burger,

and it was called the flamed burger, which is quite ironic.

Well, actually, I had two of them. A bit greedy.

At a roadside on the outskirts of Edinburgh,

schoolboy Harry lies critically ill with head injuries

after being knocked off his bike.

His friend's mum is with him.

She's called Harry's parents, who are now en route.

OVER PHONE:

An off-duty firefighter, Paul Cook, trained in emergency first aid,

is doing all he can to keep Harry still and safe.

He's on the line to ambulance control as the paramedics

head to the scene.

PAUL:

The ambulance has arrived.

Technician Oran Robinson is the first to Harry's side.

We carried out an assessment of his injuries

and our main concern at that time was a possible brain injury.

Just moments behind the ambulance are Harry's parents, Lisa and Nick.

I remember his parents arriving on scene

and the shock in their faces, it really touched my heart.

You know, when you arrive at this kind of scene, it's just like...

It's a lot to take in.

I went over and knelt beside him and held his hand and just said,

"Harry, it's Dad here. It's Dad here.

"Harry, you'll be all right. You'll be all right."

His eyes flickered like just a few times, and then he was out.

I was calm and that. I wasn't screaming or crying. Erm...

But I think inside I felt pretty panicked. Erm...

I was just sort of willing him to...not to die at the roadside.

Harry is so unresponsive,

the hospital trauma team Medic One has been alerted.

A consultant and emergency nurse are going to carry out

advanced treatment at the roadside.

They are going to put Harry into an induced coma

and take over his breathing.

It will reduce the pressure in his head

and crucially preserve his brain function.

When it ended up being another ambulance, this Medic One,

when that arrived as well, then you knew it was serious.

And then the police escort.

You know, we were in a convoy of three vehicles.

You're in the back of this car and there is an ambulance in front

of you, and it's your own son that's in that ambulance.

And you're trying to hold together. It's very, very difficult.

It's very difficult.

At the hospital, neurosurgeon Jothy Kandasamy is standing by.

There's no doubt that Harry's case

was a case of serious trauma - head trauma, brain injury.

So a blood clot that was expanding second by second.

An expanding blood clot literally will be life-threatening

within minutes.

Harry is taken into theatre.

It's the start of the longest hours and days in Nick and Lisa's lives.

It's late at night and we're trying to get some sleep,

but you are dreading that knock on the door.

In theatre, Mr Kandasamy and his team control the blood clot

and create a window in Harry's skull

to release the pressure on his brain.

The surgery is a success,

but Harry has to remain in a medically-induced coma.

Up until that point, there was no way for us

to absolutely categorically say to the parents,

"We know what he's going to be like."

This is the sight that greets Lisa and Nick in the critical care unit.

It was the early hours of the morning.

That's quite a shock to see him with lots of lines going in each

hand with drugs and lots of computerised technology which you've

never seen before in your life if you've never been in that situation.

It's a waiting game, and every morning when you get up

and you walk downstairs to go back into intensive care and see him...

You're thinking, "Great, we've got through another night

"without having a knock on the door."

And, you know, you sit and you talk to him

hoping that he is listening to it somewhere subconsciously.

And you stroke him and you tell them that you love him.

You are always very much on edge

because you don't know what the outcome could be.

In head injuries, the outcomes can be tragic.

The bolt in Harry's head measures the pressure inside his brain.

His parents have to wait another 12 days until Harry's consultant

is happy that the levels are low enough

to attempt bringing him out of the coma.

He opened his eyes on Father's Day,

so that was the best Father's Day present I've ever had.

I started to shout down the ward.

Bear in mind there's lots of very poorly children.

"He's awake! He's awake!"

And Nick and I were fighting back the tears.

That is very, very emotional when he first opened his eyes.

Really very emotional.

I do remember waking up in intensive care.

I thought it was a dream.

I remember my mum and dad coming round the side to say hello

and gave me a cuddle.

In the next few days,

Harry is taken to Ward 7 for children with head injuries.

His progress is rapid and astonishes everyone.

His primary school decide to give him

a citizenship award to mark his extraordinary recovery,

and make this video with him for his school friends to see.

Yeah, go on. Yay!

WOMAN GIGGLES

After 18 days in hospital, Harry goes home fit and well.

He's back playing with his mate Dougie

and recalling the events of that day.

The gears are completely wrecked.

I've got the helmet that I was wearing at the time that...

I got hit.

It was Douglas' helmet, and of course when I hit,

this bit came off.

Scratches here.

Incredibly,

the only lasting affects of his dreadful injuries are headaches.

The driver of the van was found guilty of dangerous driving

and banned for two years.

But the family have made their peace with him.

We since wrote a letter to him telling him that we don't feel

any ill will to him, which we don't.

There is such thing as accidents.

The family are grateful to all those involved in Harry's

survival and recovery, particularly firefighter Paul Cook,

the first on the scene who recognised

just how critical his situation was.

I'm just grateful that I could do something that, you know,

I had the skills that I could do something to help Harry.

Thanks to him, I managed to get into hospital and I didn't die.

Which is good.

I don't want to die at the age of 11.

That's all for now. Join us next time for more Close Calls.