A BRAVE security guard waded through mud flatts to rescue a young woman sinking below the surface while trapped in her car.

A 12-year-old girl had scrambled from the Ford Ka following a crash and alerted Joe Carruthers, 36.

He leapt 20ft from a road into the mud on an estuary in the River Tyne at Blaydon, near Gateshead.

The car was being sucked under mud as he rescued the driver and carried her to safety.

The 20-year-old driver had broken both ankles and had been screaming in pain as she tried to crawl out of the window of the half-submerged car.

Mr Carruthers, armed only with a torch, lifted her on to his shoulders and carried her across the flatts to safety.

The drama happened after the car the pair were travelling in mounted a kerb, slid across grass and plunged 20ft into the Tyne.

Father of two Mr Carruthers, of Cowgate, Newcastle, said: "I don't know how I did it. It must have been pure adrenaline.

"Someone asked me how I managed to carry the woman all that way on my shoulders and I really just don't know.

"It's a miracle that both the woman and the girl are alive. If the tide had been in, neither of them would have survived.

The woman, believed to be from Carlisle, was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead. The girl is believed to be from Blaydon.

Ashley Howard, station officer at Swalwell, said he was nominating Mr Carruthers for a bravery commendation from Tyne Wear Fire Brigade.

He said: "They are very lucky to have escaped with their lives.

"If the tide was in, they might never have been able to get out of the car."