A woman was trapped for about half-an-hour and airlifted to hospital with a suspected broken leg after the vehicle she was driving and another vehicle ‘‘side-swiped'', police say.
Senior Sergeant Brian Benn, of Dunedin, said the woman, aged in her 60s, was travelling over the brow of a hill on State Highway 96 between Mataura and Hedgehope when her Nissan four-wheel-drive, towing a horse float, and an oncoming Honda CRV collided.
The woman was taken to Gore Hospital by the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter, Snr Sgt Benn said.
Her husband, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was not injured.
The driver of the Honda vehicle, a 23-year-old woman, was taken by ambulance to Southland Hospital in Invercargill and treated for lacerations.
‘‘It was very close to a head-on crash, but it wasn't a full smack in the nose. It was a side swipe,'' Snr Sgt Benn said.
Both vehicles and the float, which detached from the four-wheel-drive, were extensively damaged.
The cause of the crash was not known, but the sun was low at the time and it was possible one of the drivers was affected by sun strike, he said.
The incident happened about 7.30pm.
The fire service, police and ambulance staff attended.
