The year is young but we've already seen some pretty harrowing car crashes, such as a 1998 Corvette that was completely destroyed in a dangerous high-speed street race and a famous football star's Ferrari 812 Superfast that was crashed by a car wash employee.

Most of the time, we only see a few blurry pictures of the aftermath of these crashes, but the latest terrifying accident involving a Mercedes-Benz was caught on camera, as was the daring rescue by a team of firefighters after the sedan burst into flames. The specific car appeared to be a W210 E-Class. Be warned - the video below isn't for sensitive viewers.

The first few seconds of the video show the moment that dashcam footage from another driver captured the Mercedes leaving behind a trail of sparks just before it flew off a bridge. According to NBC Los Angeles, the overpass ran over the 110 Freeway. The Mercedes then flew into some palm trees below before the front of the luxury car burst into flames.

Fernindo Salazar, another driver, attempted to free the trapped driver along with some law enforcement officials, but the heat from the flames made this impossible. "I was trying to pull him out," said Salazar. "The guy was really tied down. He had his seat belt on." More dramatic footage then followed as firefighters arrived on the scene.

Using fire extinguishers and a fire hose to get close enough, they were eventually able to free the driver from the vehicle. While the driver was fortunate to survive, he was last known to be in critical condition with numerous burns from the fire. It's not evident what caused him to veer off the overpass in the first place, but Salazar confirmed that the Mercedes was traveling at a high speed at the moment it flew off the overpass.

Later, we can see just how badly the Merc was damaged, with an entirely destroyed front-end. Thankfully, there were no other occupants in the vehicle at the time of the incident. We can only hope the driver makes a full recovery.