Mum, baby survive car plunge unharmed

  • 31/03/2016
The car plunged around 15m down a bank (NZ Police)
The car plunged around 15m down a bank (NZ Police)

A newborn and his mum have a baby capsule and seatbelt to thank for getting out of a car crash uninjured, Wellington police say.

Police were called to the crash around 9:30am yesterday after the car the mother was driving went off the side of a bank on Waikowhai St in Ngaio. It fell around 15 metres and only came to a stop after hitting a number of trees on the way down.

The car's airbags deployed and because she was belted up, the mother suffered no injuries.

Her two-and-a-half-week-old boy was in the backseat, strapped into his baby capsule, and was also uninjured.

Constable Wendy Bryant attributed the outcome to the use of a seatbelt and a Plunket checked and fitted baby capsule.

"The mum was actually driving back to Johnsonville Plunket at the time to get the baby capsule re-checked as the baby was now a couple of weeks old to make sure everything was all right, when the crash happened. Obviously it was properly installed as it possibly saved baby's life," she says.

"Mum was understandably shaken but although both her and her son have suffered no injuries they were taken to hospital to be checked out anyway," Const Bryant says.

A driver who was behind the car at the time called emergency services who needed a specialised tow truck with a long enough winch to drag the car back up to the road.

Newshub.