Miraculous escape as car falls down ravine

A couple had a "miraculous" escape and "cheated death" when their soft-top sports car plunged 270ft down a Mid Wales ravine before landing on its wheels in six feet of water.

The pair, believed to be in their 50s, were travelling in a BMW which fell 20ft before smashing into a tree and sliding down a 250ft drop near the Ffrwd Fawr Waterfall at Dylife, Llanidloes.

The car was involved in a collision with another vehicle before falling off the edge of the ravine, and falling to the bottom of the waterfall where it landed the correct way up at about 11.30am yesterday.

The couple managed to escape from the car and clambered out of the water onto a nearby rock where they sat waiting to be rescued.

As police and paramedics tried to rescue the couple, they also got stuck in the ravine and had to be rescued by Brecon Mountain Rescue Team.

Inspector Alun Samuel, from Dyfed Powys Police, said he was amazed the couple survived the plunge as they were in a soft-top car.

"They have miraculously survived," he said.

"It is incredible really. It's an amazing, horrendous crash and they are the couple that cheated death. The car left the road and hit a tree about 20ft down and continued down, it's like a cliff face.

"The two offside wheels were ripped off the vehicle on the way down.

"It fell through trees and down a steep ravine and landed the right way up in six feet of water - it was their lucky day.

"Officers and paramedics got down to them but they could not get back out so they had to be assisted out by the mountain rescue."

A man in the car suffered a broken collar bone and a head injury while the woman is believed to have suffered only minor injuries.