Good Samaritans helped save the life of a man near the edge of a motorway bridge.

Student Hamza Aszal, 20, and Abdul Shah, 22, were driving towards Manchester from Bolton on the A579 when they saw a man standing on the wrong side of the bridge barriers at 1am this morning.

The two men, who live in Cheetham Hill, decided to pull over near the railings at St Peter’s Way and raced over from the car.

As they got to the scene they saw another passer-by was struggling to prevent the man from falling.

They then both grabbed the man and pulled him over the bridge to safety as he fell unconscious.

Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene to take the 61-year-old man to hospital.

Mr Aszal, a volunteer and student, said: “I was just leaving Bolton, as I was leaving I took a right into a slip road to get towards Manchester.

“As I took that turn I could see something like a body hanging halfway up over the bridge.

“We stopped the car and both ran off, we just grabbed the guy and helped him up over the rail.

“I am still thinking about it - I am still in shock.”

A spokesman from the police confirmed they were called to the incident in the early hours of this morning.

He said: “Police were called to St Peter’s Way at 12.55am after being alerted about a man who on the bridge.

“A member of the public had pulled him back.

“The man involved voluntarily attended hospital.”

If you need to talk to someone, you can call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or visit samaritans.org