TWO Guernseymen were pulled from the burning wreckage of their crashed aircraft before emergency services arrived. Father-of-one Nigel Gallimore and an unnamed motorist leapt into action after watching the plane crash into a hedge about 20 yards from a family theme park.

Pilot Rob Le Page, 54, and Dave Bougourd remain critically ill in the burns unit of Salisbury District Hospital following the incident.

Mr Gallimore, 35, was visiting the Alice in Wonderland Family Park with wife Helen and their two-year-old daughter when the crash happened last Saturday.

He rushed to the scene to pull Mr Le Page clear of the flames.

‘I jumped over the fence to get to the plane,’ he said. ‘It exploded and we could see two men trying to get out. We managed to help them onto the road.’

A van driver dragged Mr Bougourd from the front seat of the aircraft and clear of the inferno.

Mr Gallimore said there had been a second explosion and they had managed to help the men get away.

‘The pilot told me he had been trying to turn the plane around and get back to the airport. I haven’t been able to sleep since the crash because I just keep thinking about it,’ he said.

A third person in the aircraft, Andrew Anderson, died at the scene.

The van driver, who declined to be named, said he and Mr Gallimore had been unable to save the rear seat passenger when they were driven back by the flames.

‘We realised there was another person in the plane but there was nothing we could do to get to him,’ he said.

Dorset Ambulance Service’s Tony James praised the two men for their actions.

‘Without their assistance the outcome could certainly have been very different,’ he said.

Witnesses said the aircraft lost height and bounced off the ground before careering into the 8ft hedge that borders the theme park and the B3073 road.

The Civil Aviation Authority was yesterday examining the single engine Tobago Socata aircraft to establish the cause of the crash.

The aircraft had taken off from Bournemouth International Airport at 11.55am to fly to an open day of vintage aircraft at Henstridge Airfield, Somerset. Within moments of take-off, Mr Le Page decided to turn back.