The occupants of a car flattened by a container truck walked away from the squashed wreck in Marlborough yesterday, but the driver of a second, slightly damaged car had to be cut from the wreckage.
Two cars and a truck/trailer unit collided about 11.30am on SH6 near Rai, on the Nelson-Picton road. The truck tipped over and crushed both cars.
The back car, occupied by two Argentine tourists, was crushed so badly it was only as high as its doors.
Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter base manager and pilot Tim Douglas-Clifford told the Herald it was a "phenomenal" escape.
"It's just miraculous. Nobody can believe it, everyone expected worse. The tourists, they had no injuries at all. It's incredible, it's miraculous actually, that nobody got more seriously hurt."
A Blenheim woman aged in her 60s was cut from her vehicle by the Fire Service, and airlifted by Mr Douglas-Clifford and his crew to Wairau Hospital in a moderate to serious condition with suspected spinal injuries.
Her passenger, a man in his 70s, was also flown to the hospital for further assessment and treatment.
- Morgan Tait and APNZ
