An elderly woman spent five hours in freezing cold conditions before being rescued by police after her car rolled down a steep bank in Central Otago.
Police said she would have been in real trouble with hypothermia because the temperature was below 0C when she was found at 9.30pm last Saturday.
The woman rang 111 about 4.30pm and did not know where she was, but phone polling suggested she was between Palmerston and Omakau.
"The temperatures were dropping to freezing and her phone dropped out. She stated that water was coming into the vehicle before the phone went dead," the police said.
A search by fire crews and police located the car down a steep bank near the Wedderburn Pub at 9.30pm.
