The car went onto the shoulder, struck a tree and flipped. The driver was ejected, and one of his four passengers was able to crawl free.

Another passenger was trapped inside the smashed car and the fourth was trapped beneath the Mustang.

All four motorists were men in their 20s, emergency workers said.

Bystanders — including a retired Honolulu fire captain, an off-duty Honolulu fire captain, a woman with medical training and a Mainland firefighter on vacation — came upon the accident only moments after the crash and rushed to help the victims, officials said.

While the woman attended to the man inside the wreckage, the retired fire captain, Ed Amina, went to the man beneath the car.

"He (Amina) was dressed nicely, like for church," Mensching said. "White, long-sleeved shirt. And he didn't hesitate."

The situation beneath the overturned car looked dire.

"On first inspection it looked like (the man under the car) had been crushed," Mensching said. "He was pinned under the vehicle, but he was on the grass, and that is probably what saved him."

Because Amina was able to get to that man quickly and determine that he was still alive, and because the woman was monitoring the vital signs of the other man inside the car and was able to report on his condition, arriving on-duty firefighters knew immediately that the man beneath the Mustang needed their attention first.

They had to free him — and fast.

"Usually, we would set up the Jaws of Life," Mensching said. But setting up the special equipment designed to pry metal from trapped bodies would take precious time, and firefighters saw there was an alternative.

"We had enough bystanders, and all we needed was an inch or two," Mensching said.

The bystanders, including off-duty Honolulu Fire Capt. Rick Kimak, the Mainland firefighter and others, grabbed the car and lifted it up. Firefighters slipped heavy lumber beneath the car, braced the vehicle on the lumber and freed the man.

Then they cut the other man from inside the car.

"Because the extrications didn't take that long," Mensching said, "they had the best possible chance."

Emergency Medical Services workers then stabilized the men from the wreckage and the two less critically injured men and took the four by ambulance to Kahuku Hospital. They transferred them to a military helicopter, and the pilot flew them to the trauma unit at The Queens Medical Center.

Derrick Young, acting assistant chief of operations for EMS, said two of the men were in critical condition when they were transported. A third was in serious condition, and the fourth seemed to have minor injuries, but that assessment was likely to be upgraded to serious, he said. Police later said that man was in serious condition.

Mensching said he regretted not getting the names of the woman with medical training and the other bystanders.

"We were grateful for their help," he said.

He said he planned to write Fire Department commendations for Amina and Kimak.

Fire Capt. Emmit Kane, a department spokesman, said he talked with Amina and Kimak last night and neither man wanted to be interviewed by reporters about their experiences.

"They are both really low-key guys," Kane said. "They are both very service-oriented, but they don't do it for accolades."

Police blocked off Kamehameha Highway for several hours yesterday afternoon while investigating the wreck.

Sgt. Lorenzo Ridela of the traffic investigations unit, said that both speed and alcohol were factors in the wreck. He said none of the men in the car were wearing seat belts.