TRUCK driver Peter Lloyd had a tough day yesterday as he came to terms with the fact that he had been unable to save a Birregurra hotel worker who was overcome by fumes.
Mr Lloyd, 38, of Colac, went into the cellar of Birregurra's Royal Mail Hotel, east of Colac, on Thursday morning in a desperate bid to rescue Xavier Carey, 54, who had collapsed while taking delivery of beer kegs from Mr Lloyd.
However, fumes made Mr Lloyd ill and he had to retreat back up the cellar stairs before he was overcome.
"The hardest thing is I could not help him," Mr Lloyd said.
"I knew I would be putting my own life at risk if I went in again."
"I did not know what substance was in there."
He said the fumes had affected him "in a big way" and he had felt his head and his chest tightening.
"I felt giddy," he told The Standard.
Mr Lloyd said Mr Carey had collapsed when he was about to hand up empty beer kegs to him from the hotel cellar.
Standing in a courtyard at the side of the hotel, Mr Lloyd said he saw Mr Carey fall on to a keg and then into "a foetal position" on the cellar floor.
"He was trembling like he was having a fit."
Mr Lloyd yelled for help but no one came and he rang 000 to alert emergency services.
Returning to the cellar entrance, he yelled to Mr Carey but got no response.
He asked a young girl passing by to get help and later a man to wait for emergency services while he ventured into the cellar. "When I got to the bottom of the steps, my stomach started convulsing, my head felt weird," he said.
"I never felt like that before.
"There was definitely something in there that should not have been there.
"I got back out and got my breath and rang 000 again and said there was a gas leak down there.
"I went back outside and was still gasping for air."
Mr Lloyd said he realised he had to stay out of the cellar and let emergency services with the right equipment handle the situation.
He was later taken to hospital and checked before being released.
Thursday's tragedy was not the first time Mr Lloyd has stepped in to try to save lives during an accident.
In 2004, he helped a man escape from a burning van after a collision with a sedan on the Princes Highway near Little River.
Two other men in the van died.
He later received a Goodyear Highway Heroes award for his effort.
That incident also occurred during the course of Mr Lloyd's work as a truck driver ? a job he has done for 18 years.
He said he had come across scores of road accidents during his career and acted on instinct when he had the chance to save someone.
"I've always been taught if you can lend a hand to someone, it goes a long way," Mr Lloyd said yesterday.
He said the impact of Thursday's tragedy did not hit him until afterwards.
"I have to deal with the fact I was not able to save Mr Carey."
WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said Mr Carey had possibly been overcome by carbon dioxide that had leaked from inside the cellar.
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