Trapped crash survivor got into car with drunk driver

Daughters Natasha (left) and Katrina are reunited with their mother, Ada Makiri, in Hawkes Bay Hospital and (right) the wreckage of the car in which she spent four days. Picture / Greg Bowker

Ada Makiri broke the golden rule she spent years drilling into her children - and got into a car with a drunk driver.

"I did what I've always told them not to do and this is what happens," she said from her hospital bed yesterday.

The mother-of-nine was the only survivor of a crash that claimed the lives of the driver, Peter Hanawera Moke, 45, of Waiohau, 50km southwest of Whakatane, and a back-seat passenger, Tui Elaine Timmons, 29, of Whakatane, on Sunday morning.

It was supposed to be a trip of about 5km across town - from a party at Upper Hutt to one in Stokes Valley - but became a 500km-plus road trip to Taupo, and then on towards Napier.

Hours later the car left the road where it lay hidden from view in scrub.

Mrs Makiri lay trapped in the wreckage for the next four days - upside down, injured and next to the bodies of her companions. The wreck was eventually found on Wednesday evening.

"It's been a frightening experience," she said from the intensive care unit at Hawkes Bay Hospital yesterday.

"At times I did not feel as if I had much left. I thought I could not go on, but I was determined to hang on to see my kids again."

The 43-year-old remembers nothing of the crash itself.

When she woke up she says the dashboard clock read 5.50am. She was pinned down in the car, which had landed on its roof. Using her one free hand she reached to feel for her companions.

Her voice cracking, she said: "They had no pulses and I knew they were gone. I said a karakia."

But that was only the beginning of a horrifying ordeal.

Despite the car crashing off the busy SH5 Napier-Taupo highway, it rolled 10 metres and was hidden by trees and bush down an embankment.

Mrs Makiri, a cleaner from Lower Hutt, spent almost four days and three nights drifting in and out of consciousness.

She survived by pushing a bottle out of the smashed window and drinking the rainwater that she collected.

Every time she heard a truck drive past she called for help. At night she flashed a small torch in the hope of attracting attention.

She said that at times her mind played tricks on her. "I thought I was back in work, then I would wake up and still be in the same position."

But in her lucid moments, she would tell herself off for getting into such a terrifying situation, and concentrate on fighting her way out of it.

"I had a damn good talk to myself. I thought of each and every one of my children," she said.

There were times when she almost lost hope. "I kept wondering why there were no helicopters. And yes, it crossed my mind that I would never be rescued."

When the rescue came it was by a stroke of pure good luck.

A truck broke down at the spot Mrs Makiri's car left the road. As Ross Hedley fixed the truck he heard faint cries for help.

"I told him to just hold my hand and I would be safe because I would know someone had come at last," Mrs Makiri said.

Mr Hedley did just that, and contacted emergency services, who were able to free her from the wreckage and airlift her to hospital.

Yesterday, the pair were reunited as he visited the hospital and Mrs Makiri was able to thank her "knight in shining armour".

"You're the one I saved, is it?" he greeted her. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," Mrs Makiri said. "You're awesome, mate. Awesome."

Also at the hospital were Mrs Makiri's family, including daughters Natasha, 24, and 16-year-old Katrina.

They reported her missing on Monday morning after she failed to return home and did not answer calls.

"We tried everything and everyone we could think of and we even went out looking for her we were so worried," Natasha said.

They were "so scared" by the time the call came through on Wednesday that their mum was alive.

"It was the happiest moment of our lives," Katrina said.

Mrs Makiri said she knew the driver of the car, but had not seen him for years before running into him on Saturday night.

She had not met the other passenger before.

The trio drank together "for a few hours" before getting into the car. They went to the female passenger's home to get a change of clothes, but then the driver said he was taking them to Taupo.

Mrs Makiri said she tried to persuade him to let her out. He was driving too fast, she said. The accident happened 2km east of the Mohaka Bridge.

Mrs Makiri said she held no animosity toward Mr Moke.

"They died straight away. My thoughts go out to their families."

She suffered head and face injuries, burns and hypothermia and said she now wanted to concentrate on getting better.

But she admitted the psychological scars could take longer to heal.

"I keep having flashbacks but I know in time I will get through that.

"I just have to keep my chin up and be thankful that I'm still here."