Car plunge survivor: “How the hell am I still alive?”
Unrestrained in a ute rolling 300 metres down a bank, Jordan Haggart thought he was going to die.
‘‘As we were in mid-air, the driver turned to me and said ‘I’m so sorry boys’, and that’s when we got the first impact,’’ the 21-year-old scaffolder said.
Haggart and his workmates, Sabyn Wallace and Tom James, climbed bloodied and dazed to get help after their ute crashed off Summit Rd, near Little Akaloa in Banks Peninsula, about 2.40pm on Wednesday.
The Mazda ute rolled about 12 times before landing in a stream. Police said it was a ‘‘miracle’’ the men survived, especially as two of them were not wearing seatbelts.
Haggart said the plunge took ‘‘a long time’’.
‘‘In my mind I had already accepted that was me, I thought I was dead. Every time it rolled the ute was getting more and more crushed, and scaffolding equipment started flying through the back window,’’ Haggart said.
Haggart and Wallace were thrown from the ute. James, who was driving, was the only one wearing a seatbelt.
‘‘I felt water on my face, and all of a sudden I was out of the ute,’’ Haggart said.
‘‘I saw Sabyn. He got thrown out the back window of the canopy, and he was in shock, walking through the bush, falling and screaming; ‘What happened, where are we?’.
‘‘And then Tom, still in the driver’s seat holding the wheel, covered in blood, he was screaming, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’.’’
Bloodied and dazed at the foot of the bank, the trio climbed and crawled up to the road, where they considered walking several kilometres barefoot to Little Akaloa for help.
A passing doctor was the first to drive past. She used her heater to warm Haggart, whose fingers and limbs were blue. The Westpac Rescue Helicopter flew him to Christchurch Hospital.
The trio had cuts and abrasions to their battered bodies. Doctors glued cuts on Haggart’s arms back together to realign his split tattoos.
Wallace was the last to be discharged from hospital on Thursday morning.
‘‘I catch myself randomly laughing, thinking how the hell am I still alive?’’ Haggart said.
‘‘I think it’s a miracle that we survived, It was stupid that two of us didn’t have seatbelts on. There’s been a lot smaller accidents that have had a lot worse outcomes than that.’’
Police believe wet and foggy conditions and unfamiliarity with the area led to James driving off the bend.
The trio were returning to Christchurch from Akaroa when they took a wrong turn. They turned back after realising their mistake, but then crashed.