Crash Samaritan: 'I was fully expecting to find a dead body'

The Honda hatchback which rolled several times in Kaikorai Valley Rd yesterday afternoon, leaving the driver seriously injured. Photo / Linda Robertson

A good Samaritan who helped a seriously injured woman after her car flipped several times in Kaikorai Valley yesterday says she was lucky to survive the crash.

The incident unfolded about 2.45pm, when the woman driving a Honda hatchback attempted to overtake another vehicle while driving south in Kaikorai Valley Rd, near Kaikorai Valley College.

A witness said the woman clipped the median strip before her vehicle rolled four or five times, took out two cabbage trees, rear-ended another vehicle then came to rest on its side.

A man living nearby said about five people rushed to the vehicle as it leaked petrol, while the woman cried out.

Because it appeared the vehicle could catch fire, the group rolled the vehicle on to its wheels and removed the conscious victim from the car.

''I was fully expecting to find a dead body,'' he said.

The man declined to be named and played down his actions, saying anyone would have rushed to the woman's aid.

''I'd say it's typical of Dunedin.''

Another man who assisted the woman, who appeared to be in her 50s or 60s, said she had extensive injuries.

The car's engine bay had disintegrated in the crash, ejecting the battery and reducing the threat of fire, he said.

St John spokeswoman Chrissy Hamilton said the woman was taken to Dunedin Hospital in a serious condition.

A senior firefighter at the scene said speed was believed to be a factor in the seriousness of the crash.

Police were on scene interviewing several witnesses.

Both lanes of Kaikorai Valley Rd were closed for at least an hour.