BY IAN CROUCH

The Ambulance Service is praising the efforts of off-duty special forces soldiers who saved the life of woman trapped in a crash near Bulahdelah.

The woman in her 50’s suffered a significant arm injury when her campervan rolled on the Pacific Highway at Nerong on Monday morning.

Initially, the woman was inaccessible, but soldiers carrying a professional first aid kit managed to squeeze through a gap in the wreckage to apply a tourniquet which helped stem significant blood loss.

Fire crews arrived and cut the roof off the campervan and the woman was flown to the John Hunter Hospital in a stable condition by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

A spokesperson for NSW Ambulance says the efforts of the soldiers most likely saved the woman’s life.

The Hunter’s Westpac Rescue Helicopter at the crash scene on Monday. Picture Westpac Rescue Helicopter