Ute passengers rescued before train hits

Rescuers pulled four people out of a Nissan utility that had spun out and landed on rail trucks minutes before a freight train hit.

The Nissan lost control driving west on State Highway 73 from Otira in the West Coast around 6.15pm yesterday.

It smashed into a rock bank, spun on the wet road and flipped on its roof down a bank to rest on the rail tracks.

The vehicle following stopped and its occupants pulled the passengers in the Nissan out minutes before a Greymouth-bound freight train smashed the car into a wreck.

The train tracks and road are close together at the point where the accident happened.

The occupants in the Nissan included a 69-year-old man, a 49-year-old man, a 34-year-old woman and another woman whose age was not known.

The occupants were from Kumara and Greymouth.

The 69-year-old man has back injuries.

Police said the female driver's blood would be tested for alcohol.

Poor weather conditions prevented a helicopter from landing and the injured were taken by road to Grey Base hospital.

Newstalk ZB reported that a patient with back injuries was transferred to the spinal unit at Christchurch's Burwood Hospital.

- NZPA