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An elderly Christchurch woman is recovering in Dunedin Hospital after being rescued from Katiki beach at 7.30pm on Saturday.
The 71-year-old had spent 31 hours injured on the beach, but was "recovering quite nicely", police said.
They believe the woman would not have survived a second night if passersby had not raised the alarm after seeing her car parked by the road two days in a row.
