A woman was swept out to sea after crashing her car and walking into a river on the West Coast, then was washed ashore seven kilometres north, at Awatuna, pictured. "She walked through the paddock and I ran out to her with a towel," said Vercoe, who lives on the West Coast of the South Island. Emergency services launched a search, which was called off after the woman turned up on Vercoe's property. The woman told Vercoe she'd been caught in the undertow, but managed to swim down and pop back up out of it. Sergeant Mark Kirkwood said earlier the woman and boy surviving was "the best outcome we could have hoped for".

Source: Stuff December 15, 2019 07:30 UTC