Badly hurt driver trapped overnight

A sharp-eyed Alexandra contractor has been praised after discovering a man with life-threatening injuries who had spent the night trapped in his vehicle down a steep bank in the Kawarau Gorge.

The car, driven by a 29-year-old Japanese man living in Wanaka, had gone off the road on Wednesday night, coming to rest about 10m down the bank.

The man, who had been reported missing yesterday morning, suffered life-threatening injuries and was last night in a stable but serious condition in Dunedin Hospital.

Fulton Hogan employee Hami Smiler and a colleague were travelling from Queenstown to Cromwell about 11am yesterday when he saw something down the bank.

"We travel that road all the time ... and just a wee flash of white caught my eye," he said.

He then saw a broken post, which was enough for the men to turn their car around.

"It takes quite a lot of force to break one of those posts; something in my head just clicked."

He climbed down the bank and found a trail of items, including a camera bag, a cellphone and a pair of sunglasses, which led him to the car with the driver trapped inside.

Fearing he would find a dead body, he was relieved to see the man move. He then alerted emergency services.

"I held his head still so he could keep breathing, and just sat there and waited. It seemed like forever ... It's not something I've done before."

Mr Smiler said initially the man was breathing quite well, but "when the ambulance came his breathing was really shallow".

"It was quite emotional. It's not something you want to come across."

Police last night praised Mr Smiler for his alertness.

Wanaka and Queenstown police attended the scene, along with two St John ambulances and two Queenstown fire trucks.

After the man was extricated from his car, he was airlifted from the scene at 1pm by a Southern Lakes rescue helicopter, first to Lakes District Hospital and then to Dunedin Hospital.

Police contacted his family in New Zealand and Japan.

Sergeant Derek Ealson, of Queenstown, said the crash would be investigated.

St John Southern Region communications co-ordinator Alena Lynch said the man had multiple life-threatening injuries and it was fortuitous he was found, as the vehicle barely visible from the road.

A Queenstown police spokeswoman said the weather had been fine but chilly, and temperatures had dropped to about 4degC overnight.