Man is saved by starting forest blaze

A man stranded since Monday when his van plunged off a mountain road engineered his rescue by starting a blaze to raise the alarm.

Firefighters investigating the two-acre blaze in Angeles National Forest, California, discovered the driver trapped in his vehicle.

The man, who has not been named, was taken out of the canyon by stretcher and flown by helicopter to hospital for treatment for facial injuries.

Firefighter Jeff Ziegler said: "I don't want to encourage people to start fires, but if you're trapped for four days, you have to do what you have to do."