Newsworthy host Samantha Hayes reveals near-death experience

Samantha Hayes has revealed her near-death experience in South America last year. Photo / NZH

Newsworthy presenter Samantha Hayes has revealed how she narrowly escaped death during a horse trek in South America last year.

The popular newsreader shared her story as she embarks on a new adventure, running a half-marathon in Kenya next weekend.

But her brush with death came on another continent, when she was travelling through South America last summer.

Hayes set out on a horse trek in Argentina with a cowboy named Geraldo, riding along train tracks bordered by steep cliffs.

Hayes wrote: "The rumbling came suddenly. There was no build-up. It was nowhere, then it was everywhere. Had the hill concealed a train? A train! I looked at Geraldo, frantic. 'Vamos!' he said. 'Vamos!'

"A passenger train appeared around a corner behind us. The driver didn't hesitate with the horn. He used it angrily, then frantically."

The pair pushed their horses as fast as they could to try and outrun the train, before careering down a sheep track just in the nick of time.

Hayes said she could feel "my heartbeat in my ears" and that her horse was so scared afterwards, she was trembling and wouldn't move.

Hayes will set off on her new adventure next week, running through the Masai Mara National Park, alongside roaming wildlife, including rhinos, elephants and lions.

• Read Hayes' full story here.

- nzherald.co.nz