Four 15-year-old boys are lucky not to have drowned after the car they were in flipped and landed upside down in a rural Masterton creek, leaving them submerged for up to two minutes.
The crash happened around 1.40am yesterday morning when the two-door modified Japanese car, driven by a 15-year-old Masterton
boy who faces a careless driving charge, left the road travelling northbound on Westmere Road at Wainuioru.
Masterton police acting Senior Sergeant Carolyn Watson said the driver failed to take a corner, went into a ditch, hit a bank and then went through a fence by the bridge.
The car narrowly missed a bridge abutment as it barreled into Largish Creek.
Mrs Watson said the car landed upside down in the creek and all four boys were submerged for a couple of minutes before they managed to escape.
"It appears the boys are extremely lucky they were able to free themselves as the crash was not witnessed and no-one would have even known they were there," Mrs Watson said.
After escaping the vehicle the quartet walked nearly a kilometre to Ed Beetham's farm house to call emergency services.
Mr Beetham said the boys arrived at his doorstep "soaked, shaken, traumatised and suffering - I think - from mild hypothermia.
"How they got out of it I just don't know," he said.
While he didn't wish "to make capital out of someone else's misfortune," Mr Beetham said the lucky escape highlighted the importance of police warnings about dangerous driving.
"This happened right on our front door, those kids are so lucky - their parents need to go to church and thank the Lord.
"I'm just sick of these people speeding past - they think because they're on a country road they can go like hell," Mr Beetham said.
It is understood the boys were out without their parents' knowledge.
Mrs Watson said all four were taken to Wairarapa Hospital for minor injuries and released.
She said speed coupled with driver inexperience were the main factors in the crash.
