SEVEN people have been involved in a two-vehicle rollover on the New England Highway.
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Scott Pateman and his son Rhys, contractors from Nelson Bay, were driving to work when they saw two women suspended upside down in their seats by the side of the highway.
“We saw them in the car hanging upside down and we stopped to get them out,” he said.“The passenger had a pretty bad head injury.
“While we were trying to get them away from the accident and around the corner … we heard a screech and turned around and it [a car] was rolling.
“It rolled six or eight times towards the other [crashed] car, so we took off up the hill.
“It landed right next to the other car … it was like a scene in a movie.”
Mr Pateman said the second car almost hit them.
We were watching it roll through the air towards us.
- Scott Pateman
“Luckily we had taken the other passengers up the hill away from it.”
Mr Pateman said the second vehicle, carrying five passengers, slipped on black ice before landing on the Armidale-bound side at the top of the pinch.
“The car skidded sideways and instead of gripping the road it just rolled,” he said.
“We went over and kicked the door in to get them out.”
Mr Pateman said in the space of 15 minutes, a third car almost flipped but managed to gain control.
“We heard the screech and turned around to see it coming towards us,” he said. “It straightened up and corrected itself and kept going.
“But it was about three minutes later that the other one rolled.”
The female passenger of the first car was later taken to Armidale Hospital where she received 13 stitches in her head.
The driver is also in hospital with back pain.
The five male passengers of the second crash escaped unharmed.
Earlier
The passengers of two cars which both rolled moments apart have escaped unharmed.
The two vehicles flipped off the road landing side by side on the Armidale-bound side at the top of Devils Pinch on Monday morning.
“Both cars came around the corner and lost control both ending up in the same place side by side,” Armidale Police Sergeant Laurie Cattell said.
Sergeant Cattell said the passengers were very lucky to escape without injuries.
“Out of both vehicles no one was taken to hospital and there were no injuries,” he said.
“There’s a possibility there may have been black ice on the road given the fact that we had another heavy frost up here this morning.”
Investigations are continuing.
