By Alanah May Eriksen
Police say it was an "absolute miracle" that a woman left with serious spinal injuries after a car crash was not killed.
A north-bound car collided with a truck and trailer unit on State Highway 33 past Okere Falls about 2pm yesterday.
An 18-year-old Katikati woman, who had serious spinal injuries, had to be cut from the car by firefighters using the jaws of life.
She was taken to Waikato Hospital by the Rotorua-based BayTrust Rescue Helicopter.
The driver of the car had moderate injuries and was taken to Tauranga Hospital by St John Ambulance. The car has been written off and the truck severely damaged.
Acting Sergeant Colin Fraser said the driver of the car would be blood tested for alcohol.
The corner had a 70km/h speed limit.
"It's an absolute miracle they didn't kill themselves," Mr Fraser said.
"If you look at the damage of the truck, it would take an amount of force to do that.
"It's a matter of good fortune rather than good management."
The truck driver, who only wanted to be known as Andrew, said the women had told him after the crash they were in a hurry to get to a toilet.
"I was surprised to see both the girls sitting up in their seat, still alive. The car is absolutely totalled. It's lucky they hit a truck and not another car because the other car would have come out worse than I did."
The man was driving the truck for a friend from Sulphur Point in Tauranga to Rotorua. "I saw the car coming at me ... I just swerved to the left as hard as I could but I couldn't get away fast enough."
