Tourists lucky to escape rolling car

Two Japanese tourists are lucky to have escaped serious injury after rolling their car 20m down a bank near Milford, in Fiordland.

Constable Glenn Matheson of Te Anau police said the couple drove off a bank at the mouth of the Homer Tunnel at 8am on Christmas Eve.

The driver was speeding and failed to notice a sharp bend coming out of the tunnel, he told the Southland Times.

The couple escaped with only minor scrapes to their knuckles and suffered shock after their car plunged 20m and rolled two to three times down the bank.

"I've seen people roll (their car) once in a lesser environment and come off with some significant injuries, so for them to walk away like they did is pretty lucky."

- NZPA