Elderly woman injured after car hit by train

An elderly woman is lucky to be alive after her car was hit by a train in the King Country today.

The 83-year-old Matamata woman was driving over an uncontrolled railway crossing on a private driveway near Ongarue, north of Taumarunui, just after midday when a train ploughed into the rear half of her car, Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance spokesman Dan Harcourt said.

The woman received head, chest and shoulder injuries from the impact, and had to be extracted from her car by firefighters.

She was treated at the scene by paramedics and taken by ambulance to Taumarunui Hospital, and later airlifted to Waikato Hospital where she is currently under assessment in the emergency department.

- NZPA and NZ Herald staff