'No one expected life' - Auckland couple escape horror hit-and-run that flipped their car four times

An Auckland couple walked away from a crash on the weekend that totalled their car after it was flipped on its roof following a hit-and-run.

Elizabeth Manū and her husband Sou were traveling on Auckland’s Northwestern Motorway on Saturday night when the crash occurred.

They were on their way to a friend’s home and were about to stop off at Westgate Shopping Centre in West Auckland when Mr Manū looked up at his rear-view mirror.

“He said something like, ‘Holy heck,’ and before I could ask him [anything] there was the impact,” Ms Manū told 1 NEWS.

The couple had been fishtailed by an alleged drink driver who they believe was speeding down the motorway at 150km/h.

Their car was sent flying into the air before landing and bouncing into a side barrier, then skidding across the motorway on its roof before crashing into the median barrier, where it flipped onto its side.

“It was like being in a tumble dryer.”

The other vehicle involved in the crash fled the scene.

Elizabeth Manū's car was completely wrecked after it was fishtailed by a speeding car. Credit: Elizabeth Manū.

The car flipped four times before it came to a crashing stop.

“You’re tumbling around and you’re just waiting for the impact and thinking you’re not going to make it.

“The whole time I was thinking, ‘It’s the end for us, once the impact happens.’”

In a Facebook post on Monday, Ms Manū wrote of the moments after the horrific crash.

“Once the car had stopped, we checked each other,” she wrote.

“Our seat belts [were] still holding us tightly in place. When I finally figured out where to look for Sou in that scrambled mess I realised he was staring back at me, grinning. We were alive.”

Her husband was able to escape the wreck and, with the help of those who stopped to help, rescued Ms Manū from inside the car.

“No one expected life. Not the passersby that ran to help, nor the motorway patrol who could not stop telling us and everyone else how lucky we were.

“All the first responders were in such a jovial mood when they realised, they were not having to deal with the fatalities they expected.”

Ms Manū says she believed it was divine intervention which saved them, and they wouldn’t be alive otherwise.

“We knew that God was with us whatever the outcome.

“There was a strange sense of peace when we were tumbling around.”

Ms Manū says a couple who witnessed the crash while driving behind them noticed the driver of the other vehicle driving erratically. Dodging the debris from the crash, they followed him to get his number plate details to give to police.

The alleged driver was found by police and charged with driving with excess breath alcohol, recklesly operating a motor vehicle and failing to stop or ascertain injury.

The 35-year-old man is set to appear in court today.

Six days after the crash, Ms Manū is recovering from home with only cuts, abrasions and bruises to show the horror crash she and her husband went through.

“We’ve been blessed. We’re just so grateful.”

 

News tip or more information? Email Natalia Sutherland

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