Woman survives crash into frozen pool

An Arrowtown woman survived a spectacular crash when she drove her car through a property and into a frozen pool, then narrowly missed being impaled on a piece of timber.

Arrowtown chief fire officer Garry Hall told the Southland Times firefighters were amazed to find the 20-year-old alive when they arrived at the scene about 3am yesterday.

The woman was driving on Bedford St when she clipped a stone traffic island, travelled about 40m before ploughing through a fence, demolishing a garden shed and then striking a stone barbecue.

That impact "pirouetted" the four-wheel-drive 180 degrees in the air and the vehicle plunged into an iced-over swimming pool that was sitting 1.5m above the ground.

A length of timber also pierced the windscreen, narrowly missing her head.

The woman escaped with minor injuries.

Constable Duncan Faulkner said the woman was lucky to be alive.

"To avoid having her head impaled, then avoid being drowned, and avoid hitting the house behind the pool is incredibly lucky."

Investigations were continuing but alcohol was thought to be involved, he said.

- NZPA