Sending text messages while behind the wheel of a car usually puts lives at risk, but a Bay of Plenty woman owes her life to having had her cellphone handy.
The 23-year-old lay trapped in a drain near Edgecumbe for several hours yesterday before raising the alarm via text message.
Whakatane police began searching for the woman about 8am after her mother rang, saying a text message said her daughter was laying trapped somewhere in the countryside.
Constable Dave Robison said the car had landed in a drain but the woman did know exactly where she was. Though the car was upright, its doors were wedged shut and the woman's parents could not hear her voice properly when they rang her.
"So I got her to keep texting to try and find out more information about where she had been and where she was going ... we narrowed it down and sent cars out travelling in opposite directions."
Police spotted the woman an hour later, after noticing skidmarks on the road. The drain was so steep that traffic on State Highway 34 would not have seen her.
The woman was treated for exposure and concussion.
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