A MAN has relived his dramatic attempts to save his family after their car plunged into a canal - and how firefighters got his mother out with seconds to spare.

Nic Seddon, aged 45, his parents Bob, 68, and Patricia, 65, and his nephew Daniel, 16, were trapped in the car after it veered off Canal Road, and into Bridgewater Canal.

All of the family was saved - but Nic said it was a very close run thing.

When his mum, Patricia, from Sale, was brought to the bank by firefighters there were no signs of life - but firefighters and ambulance staff resuscitated her and restarted her heart and she has since made a rapid recovery.

“They got my mum out with just seconds to spare,” said Nic.

Before firefighters arrived Nic had managed to get himself, his dad and nephew out of the car.

Recalling the moment they went into the water, he said he must have hit a brick as he drove on the narrow road beside the canal at about 8pm on March 20, sending the hired BMW car into the canal.

As the car filled with water Nic managed to smash a window with a metal wheel lock to escape.

Then he turned his attention to saving his family.

He climbed on top of the car and kicked in a passenger window with his bare feet to reach Daniel, who can’t swim and has learning difficulties.

He pulled Daniel out, helped by his father shoving him, and he held the six foot three inch Brentwood pupil above the water as they swam to a far bank. There a couple of boys helped to pull him out.

He went back for his dad, who had a heart attack last year, and pulled him out and they swam to the bank.

By now firefighters had arrived and jumped in the water.

Nic had returned to the car in a bid to get his 19-stone mum - who had a brain haemorrhage last year - out.

But firefighters persuaded him to leave it to them. They smashed a window and pulled Patricia through it.

Nic, a salesman, said: “By now the car was submerged with water up to my mum’s neck, they had just seconds to get her out.

“I don’t know how they managed to pull her out of a little window.”

Nic was unaware of the drama of his mother being resuscitated, because his exertions had taken their toll and he collapsed on the bank.

He said: “Thankfully I had got Daniel and my dad out, because there is no way they would have been able to get four of us out in time.

“They were able to concentrate on getting my mother out.”

But Nic - who lives in Sunderland with his wife, Nicola, and has three children - dismissed any suggestion that he was a hero: “The real heroes are the firefighters - they were fantastic, just amazing.”

Patricia was treated at Wythenshawe Hospital and is expected to be discharged by tomorrow.

A SALE grandmother has paid tribute to the firefighters who saved her life when they rescued her from the submerged car.

Patricia Seddon, aged 65, thought she was going to die when water flooded the car and went above her head.

She was pulled free by fireghters - who had jumped into the water and smashed a window with an axe to pull her out.

When they brought her to the bank there were no signs of life - but firefighters and ambulance staff resuscitated her and restarted her heart and she has since made a rapid recovery.

Patricia said of the firefighters: "They are definitely heroes - without their help I would be dead."

She recalled the terrifyng moments when she was trapped in the car as it filled with water: "I just thought my number is up.

"It was so frightening but there was not a lot I could do. I think I froze."

Then she passed out and the next thing she remembers is waking up in Wythenshawe Hospital.

She was discharged last Friday, just three days after the dramatic rescue