Women’s rugby team save four car crash victims with their bootlaces in UK

Members of the Trowbridge Women's rugby team didn't hesitate when a car crashed near their field - they saved four lives. Photo / Facebook.

A women’s rugby team helped to save crash victims by using their shirts and bootlaces to stop bleeding.

Trowbridge Rugby Club Women were finishing a training session in the field adjacent to the road in Wiltshire when they heard a vehicle crash about 8.40pm on August 9.

The team crawled through bushes of stinging nettles and over a barbed wire fence to investigate, finding the car on its side and four injured passengers, two aged 16.

Emma Santer, the women’s team lead, said that they heard “a massive crash and a lot of the trees were swaying.

“What threw us was the trees moving. Becca, our hooker, said, ‘I can hear music playing, I think there’s been a crash,’ so as one we ran down and we could hear music playing, we could hear people crying, so half the team jumped over the barbed wire fence to get through and the rest of us tried to get through the trees.

“When we got through we saw a car on its side. At that point there were two females and a male trying to drag the [fourth] who was the driver out of the car.

“That’s when we intervened. There was a blanket in the boot of the car so we had that on the ground and a few of the coaches are first-aid trained.

“With the driver it was very obvious that he was the most injured, he was actively bleeding from his right arm and he said he couldn’t breathe and didn’t want to lie down, so the coach sat on the blanket and supported his neck.

“Others took their shoelaces out of their boots and used shirts to make a makeshift tourniquet, using a stick to make it tighter.”

‘Undoubtedly saved lives’

Wiltshire Police said: “The degree of injuries was traumatic and life-threatening, but what happened next has undoubtedly saved lives.”

The force added: “Without their assistance, this could have very easily been fatal. It was a fantastic effort by this rugby team in assisting.

“It was humbling seeing members of the public coming together in order to help out fellow citizens.”

In a post on Facebook, Trowbridge Rugby Club Women wished all four people involved a speedy recovery.

They added: “To the women involved, the bravery and teamwork you showed was amazing. Not all heroes wear capes. They also wear rugby shirts.”