Stories of bravery amid the extraordinary circumstances of a fiery fuel tanker crash have been emerging today.

Two people were killed and five injured when the tanker slammed into four cars and a power pole on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Luke Rutledge reports.

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Police say the petrol tanker ran a roundabout in Monavale Road, flipped and then burst into flames.

It struck four cars, including a van, station wagon and a small hatchback.

Three people were inside the hatchback, two of them were trapped and killed in the explosion.

Today it emerged that one man tried to save all of them.

Witness: “Within 30 seconds – 20 seconds – the vehicle was alight. So the lady was brought out to safety and then at that point my attention went to a man who had been burnt and he had no hair. So I got him over to near my fence and hosed him off with the water and ran inside and got some glad wrap and wrapped up his burns.”

Altogether five people were rushed to hospital, four are still seriously ill.

Authorities say it could take days to clean up petrol and diesel.

Ian Krimmer, NSW Fire and Rescue: “The ongoing issue for us is that there’s an unknown quantity of fuel that has gone down the hill and into the drains.”

Emergency workers flushed the drains with foam overnight and the fuel has now been contained within a 1.5 kilometre radius.

They dug an earth dam around the remains of the tanker to capture fuel, before salvaging the vehicle.

Luke Rutledge, QUT News.