Grandmother's miracle survival

A friend of the 62-year-old woman was trapped for two days in a upturned car on the West Coast of the South Island says it is a miracle she survived.

Alison McDonald's family found her in blue Toyota Corolla in dense bush between Arthur's Pass and Otira early yesterday morning after she crashed down a five metre bank on Friday.

She was taken to Grey Base Hospital with bruising to her ribs and lung area.

This morning she was in a stable and comfortable condition, a hospital spokesman said.

Mrs McDonald left Christchurch Friday morning and family and friends raised the alarm after she failed to arrive at her Greymouth home.

Her friend Teena Vincent said about a dozen family and friends spent the weekend searching anxiously.

After driving the route without success, they set out at first light on Sunday and her daughter and two granddaughters found Mrs McDonald about 9.30am.

"Finding her is proof that miracles do happen," Ms Vincent told The Press, from her friend's bedside beside yesterday.

"The last thing she can remember is the car hitting something and going over the bank."

Mrs McDonald awoke to find she was trapped in the upturned car which was wedged between trees.

She yelled at passing traffic and put cotton wool in her ears to keep out the bugs while she awaited for the rescue she knew would come, Ms Vincent said.

Family and friends would not have stopped looking until they found her, she said.

"You prepare yourself for the worst, but you do not give up hope."

- NZPA