She was a woman fallen on hard times living on a pension in a Tumut women's shelter. But in a seasonal miracle, Deborah McKnight was spared when her white Commodore swerved off the winding road on her way home from seeing family in Batlow for some Christmas cheer.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Trapped upside down in her car at the bottom of an embankment on the Tumut-Adelong road, apparently with nothing to eat or drink for three days, she was found on Wednesday evening by Caleb Wilks, 17, who was on his way to a neighbour's house.
After spotting the wreck, he climbed down an 8m embankment through blackberry bushes, reassured Ms McKnight that help was on its way, dialled 000 and pointed out her car when emergency workers arrived on the scene.
''She couldn't move, so she didn't have anything. All we can think of was she was just lucky the weather was not extreme,'' Caleb's mother, Gabriel Wilk, said.
''She didn't have any water, but she was near a gully and there was humidity around her. It was not superficially dehydrating her.
''As far as we know, she was just a very strong person.''
Police say Ms McKnight, 45, lost control of her car on a bend on winding Wondalga Road in the undulating foothills of the Snowy Mountains about 3pm on Christmas Day. She told them she swerved to miss a kangaroo and speed may have been a factor, Sergeant Bryan Hammond of Tumut Police, said.
She was partly saved because ''where the car was positioned, she would have got the sun in the morning but not in the afternoon,'' Sergeant Hammond said.
Ms McKnight was trapped in the front seat near the door and window of the car, her left leg pinned under metal, according to Tumut mayor and ambulance station manager John Larter, one of three paramedics who helped to release her.
''I think that was just probably more good fortune than anything that she didn't have any other obvious significant injury,'' Mr Larter said.
Ambulance supervisor inspector Eamonn Purcell said that the full weight of the car was on her lower leg and her rescuers believe that this acted as a tourniquet, saving her from haemorrhaging.
Doctors amputated the leg in Canberra Hospital, where she was recovering and in a stable condition yesterday.
According to Owen Finegan, the chief executive officer of Snowy Hydro's SouthCare helicopter which landed on Wondalga Road, she lay in a ravine near a bridge, probably tantalised by the sounds of vehicles passing overhead.
''The pilot said that despite being in the car for three days, she was in pretty good spirits,'' Mr Finegan said. ''She was pretty happy she had finally been found. A million things were going through her mind,''
Mr Larter was surprised how long she had been there because she was so chipper. ''Considering what had happened, the length of time she'd been there, she was in .. good condition,'' he said.
Rescue workers from the State Emergency Service, Rural Fire Service and Fire Rescue NSW had to raise the car on airbags before using hydraulic cutters to make a hole in the door.
Then it took just eight minutes to get her up to the helicopter, according to Keith Favell, of the Murrumbidgee SES.
Twenty minutes later, she was in Canberra.
Tumut resident Jim Hampstead said he knew Ms McKnight as a friend of her son. She was a grandmother with a lovely personality who was beaten down by life, he said.
Mrs Wilks said her son was doing well after his stressful find.
In Canberra, TV representatives were offering Ms McKnight's family members money for her story.
