Unborn baby and Bullet the rat survive car crash

ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post

BABY'S FINE: Liza Jones and her pet rat Bullet take it easy after the stress of the car crash near Waikanae on Tuesday.

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Trapped in a crashed car wedged precariously on a steep bank above a river, a distressed Liza Jones' thoughts were with her unborn baby boy.

The 29-year-old, who is five months pregnant, remembers the Toyota Corolla driven by her partner skidding on wet grass – while her pet rat Bullet was perched on her shoulder – before it hurtled 20 metres down the bank above the Waikanae River on Tuesday evening. The car rolled five times down the bank off Akatarawa Rd, Reikorangi, ending up wedged against a ponga tree, just metres above the river.

"I swung around and Bullie just hung on – jammed between my back and the seat. We went over and over and sideways. I just wanted the banging to stop."

It took emergency services about two hours on Tuesday night to secure the car, cut off its roof and get Ms Jones winched up to the waiting Westpac rescue helicopter. Paramedics at the scene could not find a foetal heartbeat, sparking concerns for the baby.

Later, in Wellington Hospital, a heartbeat was detected and yesterday Ms Jones had a scan showing her baby alive and kicking. "He was moving around, kicking and waving. I am just stoked."

When the tumbling car stopped, Bullet tore over to Ms Jones' partner and hid in his jacket hood. But Ms Jones was too scared to move in case she was injured. "My baby was all I cared about. I just wanted someone to come and help my baby, make sure he was all right." Her partner and another passenger escaped with minor injuries.

There were two "really hairy" moments, she said. Her partner climbed through the car roof so paramedics could assess her, and the car started moving towards the river. "I freaked out thinking it was going to keep going down."

With her right leg jammed between the steering wheel and the dashboard and her baby pressing against an artery, her blood pressure fell and she started to feel faint. A paramedic helped free her and she felt better.

She was warned the ride in the stretcher up the bank could be bumpy, but replied, "It was pretty bumpy on the way down."

On the flight to hospital, she refused pain relief. "I did not want the baby to go through any more. He was not moving – it was just awful. [Now] I can't wait for him to be here."

- © Fairfax NZ News