A Greymouth man who survived a car crash in March 2019 died two days later after he accidentally drank antifreeze from a coolant bottle in his vehicle, a coroner said in a report released yesterday.
Pryor Alan Lee died at Nelson Hospital on March 7, 2019, of metabolic acidosis caused by accidental ingestion of ethylene glycol (antifreeze) following a crash where he sustained severe chest wall injuries.
Mr Lee (36) crashed in a remote part of the Marlborough Sounds.
He survived a night outdoors and made his way to a property in the French Pass, where the owners took him to Nelson Hospital.
He died in the intensive care unit after suddenly deteriorating.
Mr Lee, who worked for King Salmon in the Marlborough Sounds, had been living in Greymouth and was heading back to work.
He normally lived with his parents, but stayed with his partner in Greymouth on the night of March 5.
He sent her a text message about 11.37am saying he had made it to Nelson, indicating he was going to stop and have a nap.
He messaged her at 12.04pm, but she did not hear from him again that day.
Mr Lee drove off the unsealed Te Towaka-Port Ligar Rd; the car then rolled 200m down the steep hillside.
He regained consciousness and when he came to, he initially tried to make his way up the steep hillside but it was too difficult with his injured leg.
He slid down the hill to a stream and drank from it, and spent the night outdoors.
The next morning he made his way to a house in French Pass.
He explained to the people at the property that just prior to the crash, a white van was overtaking a silver vehicle, which caused ‘‘twitching’’ of his steering wheel.
He thought the vehicles were freedom campers.
The homeowners noted that Mr Lee was dishevelled, leaning on a stick and breathing heavily.
They fed him and gave him access to a computer and phone to contact his partner.
They said Mr Lee refused their offer to call emergency services to airlift him to hospital, fearing that he would be taken to Wellington.
The couple offered to drive him to Nelson Hospital themselves.
During the trip to hospital, he was talkative and coherent, and anxious about his dog as he could not find it after the accident.
He complained of pain in his chest.
At Okiwi Bay, they again offered to call the air ambulance and Mr Lee was adamant that it was not necessary.
As he remained lucid with good colour, they did not insist.
At Nelson Hospital, Mr Lee was short of breath, with an increased heart rate — he was alert but confused.
About 3.40pm he deteriorated rapidly, requiring resuscitation and admission to the intensive care unit.
He was intubated and ventilated as he was suffering from severe acidosis (a build-up of acid in his blood) as well as hyperkalemia (high level of potassium in the blood).
Despite full resuscitation attempts, he could not be revived.
Coroner Meenal Duggal said that as ethylene glycol was detected in Mr Lee’s toxicology results, concerns were raised about whether he might have drunk this from the coolant bottle in the vehicle.
Investigating police found the coolant overflow bottle in the vehicle had been tipped over and the top of it had been removed.
— Greymouth Star
