Desperate crashed driver sets car on fire to raise alarm

A woman who crashed her car down a 20-metre bank near Wanganui spent 14 hours alone with the wreckage before setting the vehicle on fire with a lighter to attract rescuers.

The woman's car plummeted down the bank 24km away from Wanganui on Aberfeldy Hill on a Saturday evening, leaving her with a compound fracture in her arm and nothing to do but wait for help to arrive.

St John Wanganui manager John Stretton said she was heading toward Wanganui when the accident happened.

The 41-year-old crashed at about 7pm, Wanganui fire service Senior Station Officer Gary Wilson said.

When 9am rolled around the next day, the woman -- whom firefighters said was a smoker -- still had not been found, so she set the car on fire with her lighter.

"A passing truck driver realised it was a rubbery, oily smelling fire so he stopped," Mr Wilson said.

They had to use a rope system to haul the woman up on a stretcher.

She had moderate injuries, he said.

St John, police and two fire units attended the accident last month.