It took more than manpower to move a fire engine which became stuck in the mud yesterday after it was involved in the rescue of an elderly man who reversed his car over a Karitane bank.
Police, a St John ambulance and volunteer fire brigades from Waikouaiti and Palmerston were called to the crash in Coast Rd yesterday after the man's foot got jammed on his car's accelerator as he reversed out of his driveway mid-morning.
The car travelled about 40m over a grass field before veering over a bank next to the Waikouaiti River.
Senior Constable Lesley Eason, of Waikouaiti, said the man was shaken but was otherwise unharmed.
Firefighters pulled him from the vehicle using a Stokes basket, she said.
The first calamity was quickly followed by another, as Palmerston Volunteer Fire Brigade's fire engine then got stuck in a boggy part of the field as it was leaving.
When the Otago Daily Times arrived, firefighters were pushing the truck, which was also being pulled by an old tractor owned by a local, in an attempt to free it.
They had no luck moving the 12 tonne vehicle and it took a call to nearby dairy farmer Evan Hurst to bring his much newer and larger tractor before the fire engine was dislodged from the mud.
