Boy escapes as car plunges over cliff

SYDNEY - A 7-year-old boy, who apparently released the parking brake in his parents' 4WD, jumped to safety just before the car rolled over an 8m cliff south of Sydney.

Police say the boy's parents parked the car in the driveway of their home on Mountain Rd, in Austinmer.

But shortly after they and their son had gone inside the house, they noticed the boy was missing.

The boy had hopped back in the vehicle, with one witness saying he released the parking brake, sending the vehicle careering down the 30m driveway.

The car then crossed busy Lawrence Hargrave Drive, knocked out two fences and plunged over the 8m embankment to the beach below.

Miraculously, the boy either jumped or was thrown from the vehicle just metres from the cliff edge, landing in a patch of scrub, police said.

A witness who called Fairfax Radio Network said the boy jumped out the window of the 4WD only 3m from the embankment.

A police spokeswoman said the boy had "redefined the word lucky".

The boy was taken to Wollongong Hospital and treated for cuts and bruises.

- AAP