Tourist accidentally ran over wife

A German tourist who stopped to help at a crash scene in the Buller Gorge near Murchison accidentally ran over his wife.

The woman was in a comfortable condition in Greymouth Hospital yesterday, with a broken arm and thumb, cuts and bruises after being hit by the campervan on Tuesday afternoon, the Nelson Mail reported.

Constable Jevon McSkimming of Murchison police said the couple came across a Toyota 4WD vehicle crashed into a bank on State Highway 6 about 4pm.

As the woman, a trained nurse, walked behind the campervan, her husband began reversing so the vehicle was not blocking the road, Mr McSkimming said.

The low-lying rear overhang of the campervan scraped across the woman until a bystander yelled at her husband to stop driving.

"The wheels didn't actually cross her, she was just dragged under the vehicle at the rear," he said.

- NZPA