Rotorua driver trapped with ‘six inches of air’ after car plunged into chasm

A Rotorua woman had a narrow escape after the road gave way beneath her in Waiotapu, leaving her upside down in her vehicle.

Local farmer Lynda Sutton and her partner, Angus, were among the first on the scene after hearing shouting late at night.

“[We] saw that the road had been washed out, saw the car down the creek… I grabbed a rope because if we're entering water or to get somebody out of a vehicle, a rope is a very good means of attaching yourself and somebody else on the other end,” she told rova. 

“We got down there, and I was shining the spotlight on the car.”

“She (the driver) had about 6 or 8 inches of air that she could breathe in the car before she could get out through the window.”

Sutton described how she kept the torch alight while another resident made it down to where the woman’s car had flipped, securing her before moving her to the bank to check for injuries. 

Hato Hone St John arrived just after 10pm, sending one ambulance and one rapid response vehicle. 

A spokesperson said the woman was taken to Rotorua Hospital in a moderate condition.

Looking back on the event, Sutton said she would happily do it again.

“If I needed to have jumped off the bank and helped… I was able to do that,” she said. 

“You don’t tend to think about that at the time, at the heat of the moment, you just try and stay reasonably calm.”

She attributes the rescue to the strong bonds held by rural communities, with residents quickly calling each other for backup once they realised what was going on.

Sutton said neighbours will be using each other's paddocks to get around the major slip.

 “We've opened up the track that goes up to the house next to us and cleared the culvert to get four-wheel drives and cars back up onto the road. So that's how we'll be getting in and out for some time.”

Police and Fire Emergency New Zealand have put up cordons to ensure other vehicles didn’t travel through the affected area. Rotorua District Council will lead the repairs.

As the road gets fixed, Sutton added that farmers in the areas may struggle to tend to stock and collect milk. 

Images supplied by Lynda Sutton.