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Two dogs may have saved the life of a woman who slipped and fell three metres onto rocks near Upper Hutt yesterday.
The purebred staffordshire bull terriers were running with their owner near the Bridge Road reservoir, north of Upper Hutt this morning, when they got hold of the woman's scent.
The dogs' owner, a Greater Wellington Regional Council worker who did not want to be named, went to investigate and found the woman.
Acting Sergeant Allister Rose of Upper Hutt Police said it was extremely lucky the worker and her dogs found the victim.
Mr Rose said the woman went for a walk to the dam late yesterday and slipped and fell three metres onto rocks.
"She had a recent back injury and this combined with the fall meant she was unable to get up."
A friend had reported her missing late last night and a search was due to start this morning, he said.
The woman was very wet, disoriented and hypothermic.
"She had been lying virtually under a waterfall all night. It's extremely lucky that she didn't perish and that the dogs found her when they did," he said.
The woman was today recovering from her injuries in Hutt Hospital.
- NZPA
