Cellphone lifeline for trapped crash victim

A woman's cellphone became her lifeline as she lay trapped in her overturned car on the edge of a creek after crashing yesterday morning.

Despite initially having no idea where the accident site was, firefighters tracked her cellphone and found her in 21 minutes, alongside a road south of Rotorua.

Senior Rotorua station officer Cameron McEwen said the woman was extremely lucky.

"No one would have seen her. She was down on the edge of a creek, the car was upside down and the door was jammed shut," he told the Dominion Post.

The woman, in her 50s, was travelling from Opotiki to Palmerston North when she crashed down a ditch, narrowly missing a water hole, and flipped upside down.

She called a friend who phoned emergency services at 9.32am but the woman did not know where she was.

"She was in pain, she was upset and hanging upside down," said Fire Communications spokesman Jaron Philips.

Vodafone was contacted and tracked her phone, narrowing the search to within a kilometre.

Firefighters used airbags to free the woman, who had shoulder injuries but was able to walk from the car.

Mr Philips said it was an unusual rescue: "It's pretty impressive and remarkable considering she didn't even know where she was and eight firefighters were able to get her out in about 20 minutes."

- NZPA