An Oamaru teenager remains in a stable condition in Dunedin Hospital's orthopaedic ward after the tractor he was driving rolled near Weston on Tuesday night.
Police said the 16-year-old - who called for help when stranded in a gully on a farm near Weston - was lucky he was carrying his cellphone, and that it worked from the remote location.
The teenager was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital on Tuesday after the accident about 5pm on a farm on Parsons Rd, inland from Oamaru.
The tractor rolled over the youth, who was lying just away from the tractor, down a gully, police said.
Senior Constable Ross Lory, of Oamaru, said the teen "was all intact'', but was unable to move after the accident so was flown to the emergency department in Dunedin.
Without a cellphone, which the teenager used to ring his family for help, the situation could have been much worse.
"[The youth] was well hidden from view down the back of a farm,'' Snr Const Lory said.
"The cellphone] was lucky to work down the bottom of the gully too.''
After he called his family to tell them he was in trouble, the family rang 111 and were the first to arrive at the scene.
A St John spokesman said the teen was transported with moderate injuries.
