Driver lucky to be noticed crashing

Emergency services crews finish pulling the vehicle up a bank after it crashed near Millers Flat...
Emergency services crews finish pulling the vehicle up a bank after it crashed near Millers Flat yesterday. Photo: Leith Huffadine
A 74-year-old from Alexandra whose vehicle plunged down a bank of the Clutha River near Millers Flat yesterday was lucky a motorist in front of him had noticed, police said.

''A person that was in front of him saw him disappear from his rear-vision mirror and he has rung the emergency services, the ambulance, who called us,'' Senior Constable John Clark said.

If the other driver had not noticed the accident, other motorists could have passed by without realising there had been an accident, he said.

The injured driver had been travelling towards Roxburgh when his vehicle failed to make a turn and left the road about 400m north of Millers Flat bridge, about 2.50pm.

After plunging through a fence and gorse bushes, the vehicle stopped in willow trees beside the Clutha River.

Snr Const Clark said police talked to the man but had not been able to establish the cause of the accident yesterday.

The man, who Snr Const Clark said received lacerations to his right arm and was ''sore all over'', was flown to Dunedin Hospital by the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter.

Volunteer fire brigades from Roxburgh and Heriot and a St John ambulance from Roxburgh attended the crash scene.

leith.huffadine@odt.co.nz

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement