That Sinking Feeling

Driver's Miracle Escape After Cliff Plunge

Photographer Mike Dugdale might find that one of his pictures becomes prime evidence in an unusual insurance claim. It's not your run-of-the-mill automobile picture, however. It shows a battered, dark shape, barely recognisable as a vehicle, floating out on Corio Bay here in coastal Victoria, about an hour's drive from Melbourne.

A 19-year-old driver had a miracle pre-dawn escape on Wednesday after his car veered off a road and plunged down a cliff and into the ocean at Clifton Springs. Sergeant Darren Savickas of Victoria Police told Southern Cross Broadcasting the driver had missed a sharp left-hand turn and drove through a wire fence. ``It's gone through a wire barrier fence and off a cliff with a drop of about 80 metres,'' he said.

Fortunately for the teenaged driver, a nearby resident heard the noise, went outside to see what had happened and then called police. An amazing rescue unfolded as the police helicopter managed to locate the car floating in the Bay. Police and State Emergency Service members had to contend with a rising tide as they tried to free the driver, the only occupant of the car. He is now recovering in hospital.

And the car? Alas, it sank in Corio Bay, which is why Mike Dugdale's great picture, published in the Geelong Advertiser and the Herald Sun, might be critical in proving that it actually came to a watery end. To view the photograph, go to target="_blank">Geelong Advertiser.