I don't think this has been posted here before..
Stories of bravery emerge from Asiana Airlines crash | World news | guardian.co.uk
Aircraft crew and emergency first responders have revealed they used knives, an axe and sheer muscle to free people trapped in the burning Boeing 777 that crashed at San Francisco airport.
The dramatic accounts on Monday helped to explain how 305 of the 307 people on board Asiana Airlines flight 214 survived when it smashed on to the runway on Saturday.
As smoke and fire engulfed the wreck pilots and attendants used knives to slice off seatbelts that tangled passengers. At least one knife came from in-flight cutlery; others were lobbed in by police officers on the runway.
A pilot used a cockpit "crash axe" to deflate an evacuation slide that had inflated inwards, pinning a colleague. Another pilot carried a wounded passenger to safety as jet fuel spurted.....
...snip....
The fire crew were astonished to discover a police officer, Jim Cunningham, inside the plane helping the evacuation without protective gear. He and a colleague had been among the first at the scene. After throwing knives to crew members aboard he went in himself. "I didn't think about it. I just knew people were trapped in there. I just thought, 'I'm kind of a tough guy, I can hold my breath if there's a lot of smoke,'" Cunningham said.
If I remember correctly 47 people have serious injuries which I think usually means broken limbs or worse, so I'm not surprised some people didn't run very far after they went down the slides.