Woman saved from sinking car seconds before drowning

A female driver has been saved from her sinking car by two policemen who smashed the car windows with a rock as the car rapidly sank into Waitemata Harbour in Auckland in New Zealand.The woman, who was extremely distraught, was squashed against the rear window as the front end of her car sank at frightening speed at 3pm on Tuesday.

Once witnesses had made an emergency call, two quick-thinking policemen arrived and immediately jumped into the water. After failing to open the doors, one officer attempted to smash the window with a baton, which also failed. As the 63-year-old woman was running out of air, another officer managed to shatter the rear window with a rock.

After the woman was pulled to safety, the two officers involved - Paul Watts and Simon Russell – described the miraculous rescue, which took about 40 seconds, estimating that the woman had less than one minute left when they rescued her. The car was fully submerged in the water just a minute after the woman was hauled out of the car.

The two police officers who saved the woman said it is "pretty much part of a routine job being a police officer." According to the Daily Mail newspaper, Detective Sergeant Callum McNeill said that police were still trying to figure out exactly how the bizarre incident had occurred.
The woman, who is lucky to be alive, was taken to hospital with slight injuries and is expected to make a full recovery.