And firefighters spent more than an hour releasing 19-year-old Mr. Terence Bowen from the mangled wreckage of his car.

Doctors spent hours in the operating theatre at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital treating Mr. Bowen for a crushed arm, a broken leg and serious cuts.

His car had been in collision with another vehicle driven by owner of the Clayhouse Inn, 64-year-old Mr. Choy Aming, who received a dislocated hip in the accident.

The accident happened on Palmetto Road, 20 yards east of Devon Lane, in Devonshire, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Police believe there was a head-on collision between the Mitsubishi Lancer driven by Mr. Aming and the Toyota driven by Mr. Bowen.

Fire service spokesman Lt. Jon Thomson said the Toyota overturned onto its roof. Lt. Thomson said: "He somehow managed to end up with his arm outside of the window and in between the roof of the car and the road.'' Mr. Bowen's legs were also tangled in the pedals where the floor had collapsed inside the crushed vehicle.

The 12 fire service personnel arrived on the scene to find fuel leaking from one of the vehicles. Lt. Thomson said the first job was to wash the gas away and disconnect the batteries of the cars to prevent sparks igniting the gas.

Finding Mr. Bowen's arm trapped, they placed special balloons under the car to lift it without hurting him.

Lt. Thomson said a hydraulic device was then used to force open a door before more hydraulic material was used to ease the victim's legs from the mangled pedals.

He said: "It was a mess. I understand both cars were crushed up pretty well.'' Mr. Aming had been removed from his vehicle a couple of minutes earlier. Both men were rushed to the hospital.

Police described Mr. Bowen's injuries as "a fractured leg, deep lacerations and a crushed right arm''. A hospital spokesperson said his condition was "stable.'' The Clayhouse Inn reported that Mr. Aming had phoned them from the hospital to reassure them of his condition. But he was still in need of a surgery on his dislocated hip.