Car plunges down 40m cliff face

Five Wanganui women have praised a group of offroaders for rescuing them after their vehicle plunged 40m down a sheer cliff face "in the middle of nowhere" at the weekend.

The women, in their 60s, veered off the upper Mangaehu Road, a remote narrow, winding gravel road, east of Stratford and south of State Highway 43 on Sunday, The Wanganui Chronicle reported.

The vehicle finished on its side in a creek with one woman trapped by her arm.

Another of the women set off to get help waded along the stream until she was able to scramble up the cliff.

She then walked 45 minutes to a farm house only to find no one at home.

As she was beginning to despair three vehicles from the Wairarapa 4WD club appeared on the scene.

One offroader Erin Wishart, of Masterton, said they were all horrified when they got to the spot and stared over the cliff to see the women's 4WD on its side in the creek.

They were able to pull three of the injured women up to the road and were trying to pull the vehicle over to release the woman with her arm pinned when the local volunteer fire brigade arrived.

She is in Taranaki Base Hospital with a seriously crushed arm and was undergoing more surgery yesterday.

Katherine Cole, daughter of one of the women, described the offroaders as "guardian angels".

- NZPA