KEY POINTS:
A truck driver who survived a 150m plunge over a cliff and 30 hours lying critically injured was found by searchers using the wrecked vehicle's global positioning system.
The man was thrown from the truck part way down its descent and survived, despite lying in a windy gully, through a night of heavy rain, 10km south of Port Waikato.
He was lying about 7m from the wreck when police and firefighters found him over the cliff, off the Port Waikato-Waikaretu Rd, about midday yesterday.
The truck was carrying a tank containing Port-a-loo toilet waste, which did not rupture in the crash.
Police were called to help find the man at 10am yesterday after he failed to return from a "pick up" address.
The last time his whereabouts were known was about 8.45am on Saturday.
Standing at the muddy spot where the truck left the gravel road, emergency services stood looking down at the smashed wreck, astounded the man survived.
Police said the man was found when his employer led them to the wreck using a GPS in the truck.
They said the driver had serious head and neck injuries.
He was moving his legs and talking to them but was slipping in and out of consciousness.
Last night he was in a serious but stable condition in Middlemore Hospital in Otahuhu.
The rescue was made even more difficult by the steep access and remote location.
Chief Fire Officer John Harlich of Tuakau Volunteer Fire Brigade said the narrowness of the dirt road meant rescuers were forced to park their vehicles and use farm quadbikes to get to the wreck.
They had to walk the remaining 100m across a creek and up a hill.
Mr Harlich said six firefighters strapped the man to a Stoke's basket stretcher but because of the steep and slippery terrain they had to slide him down the hill instead of carrying him, fearing they might drop him.
Then they carried him to the waiting Westpac rescue helicopter, which flew him to Middlemore.
Mr Harlich said it was amazing the driver survived. The truck was "knackered, absolutely. He was a very lucky man".
The firefighters had been called to the scene just before midday and expected to find the driver dead.
"It wasn't looking very good from up here," Mr Harlich said.
"Then two police that were there, they went down a track and they yelled back up and said he was still there and he was still alive."
St John operations manager Steve Walker described the "remarkable" survival and rescue as showing how well emergency services worked together.
The remote area - out of cellphone range - meant ambulance radio communications were scratchy.
Mr Walker needed to urgently advise attending paramedics about what drug dosage to give the man.
So he drove from the St John Ambulance communications centre in Mt Wellington to the police and fire northern communications centre in Grey Lynn to use police radios to communicate with his staff.
Mr Walker said the man was thrown from the truck about 30m from where it landed.
"Had he been in the truck, our guys reckon it would have killed him."
