A 13-year-old boy helped three younger children from a crashed car in which his mother was trapped for almost an hour near Dargaville on New Year's Eve.
The Te Kopuru woman in her early 30s was driving toward Baylys Beach when her car ran off the Baylys Coast Rd on a corner near the intersection with State Highway 12.
The car came to rest on its side over a bank, facing the way it had come. A fence post that stopped it tumbling further down the bank caused two large wounds on the woman's right forearm and pinned her right hand to the steering wheel as she lay at the bottom of the overturned vehicle.
A passing motorist called 111 at 4.50pm after spotting a boy and girl aged about five crying on the roadside while the 13-year-old and his 8-year-old brother were standing on top of the wreck.
The 8-year-old was very distressed, tears streaming down his face as he screamed: "Help my mother."
