A US mayor suffered a fractured ankle and head injuries as he rescued a mum and three children seconds before a train smashed into their car which had stalled on the tracks.

Eddie Daniels was on his way to work in Vienna, Georgia, when he spotted the black SUV on the tracks with a train fast approaching.

He helped the mother out first, before spotting three children in the back seat – a six-year-old, a three-year-old and a one-year-old.

He got the two younger children out and was helping the six-year-old when the train hit the vehicle.

Mr Daniels said he remembers being caught between the train and the SUV but still managed to get the last child out.

The smashed vehicle landed a few feet from where it was hit, leaving the mayor with a broken ankle and needing eight stitches to his head.

“I couldn’t let those babies sit there and get slaughtered by a train,” Mr Daniels told WALB-TV.

The second-term mayor added: “I’m out here just doing God’s work. That’s what we’re supposed to do.

“And they told me I was a hero.

“I said I don’t feel like a hero, just feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, what the people elected me to do.”