Durval Linhares helped to save Norberto Crisostomo from an impending explosion, Etobicoke, Ontario, September 11, 1995. Crisostomo, 52, and a co-worker were inside an excavation beneath a city street, working on a natural gas line. A massive eruption of gas under high pressure in the line blew them, and the protective cage in which they worked, out of the excavation and onto the street. They remained in the cage, badly injured, as the gas vented loudly and forcefully nearby, blowing debris high into the air. Linhares, 31, a driver who had delivered cement to the site, had been standing near the excavation when the blast knocked him backward and dazed him. Seeing Crisostomo inside the cage, Linhares ran into the escaping gas to him and attempted to extract him from the cage by extending a board to him. Linhares then grasped Crisostomo by the arms and pulled him. Joined by two other men, Linhares and they removed Crisostomo to a point across the street. The two other men then helped remove the co-worker to safety. As gas continued to blow from the excavation, the immediate vicinity, containing two filling stations, was evacuated. Crisostomo required extensive hospitalization for severe injury. Linhares was scratched and bruised by debris, but he recovered.
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