Luke Wigram's Ford Focus station wagon did its job protecting him but was left in a terrible state after the crash. PHOTO / Akaroa Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Luke Wigram's Ford Focus station wagon did its job protecting him but was left in a terrible state after the crash. PHOTO / Akaroa Volunteer Fire Brigade.
By Andrew King.
The motorist who miraculously escaped death when his vehicle rolled more than 500m down a Banks Peninsula hillside is no stranger to near misses.
Luke Wigram walked away from the wreck with broken ribs and fingers, and bruising.
"The last thing I remember is being violently thrown around. I expected to die when the car left the road," he told star.kiwi.
In 1994, Mr Wigram was a student at Tai Poutini Polytechnic in Greymouth. On April 27, his class visited Cave Creek in the Paparoa National Park, and walked onto the platform which would collapse when another class visited the following day, killing 13 students and a Department of Conservation field officer.
Luke Wigram was airlifted to hospital with broken ribs and fingers and a big gash on his forehead. He also suffers a number of bruises from the seat belt. PHOTO / Akaroa Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Said Mr Wigram yesterday: "I remember one of my fellow classmates saying I don't think it should be shaking like this."
Now Mr Wigram, 39, is counting his lucky stars again. He was driving on Summit Rd in his Ford Focus station wagon, near Little Akaloa, on Friday, when hail started to fall on light snow on the road.
The vehicle slid off the road and started to roll down the hill.
All he could do was concentrate on keeping his limbs inside the vehicle, said Mr Wigram.
Then he lost consciousness.
When he came to, he climbed out of the badly mangled vehicle, sore, but incredibly lucky.
He found his cellphone in his pocket and dialled 111.
"If I have a guardian angel, it is probably taking a well-deserved break now." Photo / Akaroa Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Said Mr Wigram: "I just stayed on the line with the dispatcher who kept me going. Asking me questions about what injuries I had, could I hear sirens, that sort of thing."
He was airlifted to Christchurch Hospital by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
"There was a general surprise that I could survive the roll down the bank and have few injuries," he said.
"If I have a guardian angel, it is probably taking a well-deserved break now."
Mr Wigram was discharged from hospital on Tuesday.
Senior Constable Tim Johnson said he had never seen a crash like it result in the driver walking away alive.
"About 450m off the side of the road was the engine, a further 50m were a couple of wheels wedged into a fence and about 100m down from that was what was left of the car," he said.
