The car crash that killed a man on the Sea-to-Sky Highway Saturday could have been much worse if it weren’t for some quick-thinking Good Samaritans, according to police.

A young couple visiting from New Zealand said they were first on scene on Highway 99 near the Garibaldi Salt Shed, where a car was flipped over and in flames on the side of the road.

“Bud and Mike ran down the embankment to the burning car, I quickly called 911 and the lady was telling me not to let the boys go near the car,” Stephanie Saxton wrote in a public post on Facebook just hours after the crash.

“They took a step back, then saw a young boy banging on the window, so immediately they got a huge rock and smashed the window,” she said.

Saxton said her boyfriend, Bud Harwood, then pulled the young boy out of the car. Other Good Samaritans jumped into action while waiting for first responders, including a man who sprayed the car with a fire extinguisher he had in his vehicle, Saxton said.

She said Harwood used a knife to cut the seatbelt off the man who was driving the vehicle and then pulled him out. He then pulled out an elderly man, reportedly the grandfather of the small boy, and said he was having difficulty breathing.

Saxton said a male and female passenger were also pulled from the car – five people in all.

Based on what happened next, she said the timing couldn’t have been better.

“Bud told everyone [to] clear out, he grabbed the mother from the back seat, RAN up the embankment. Right when he got to the top of the embankment the car had exploded!,” she said. “Honestly, this was BY FAR the scariest and most life threatening thing I have EVER seen. If it wasn't for Bud and Mike who got in that car when they did, that entire family wouldn't be here today.”

The man identified by Saxton as the young boy’s grandfather succumbed to his injuries shortly after the crash.

The three remaining passengers and the driver were all taken to hospital with a wide range of injuries, and the young boy had to be airlifted to BC Children’s Hospital. No word on the extent of their injuries.

An off-duty doctor and nurse were also among the Good Samaritans who jumped into action, according to Whistler RCMP.

Police tell CTV News they believed the death toll would have included all five people in the car if not for the Good Samaritans on scene.

The crash shut down Highway 99 for several hours Saturday.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Sarah MacDonald