A HAMPSHIRE woman who plunged 40ft down a riverbank in her car has told how she miraculously emerged unscathed from the wreckage.

Yesterday the Daily Echo reported how Claire McDermott, 31, escaped with only bruises after her BMW skidded off the Wallington Way dual carriageway in Fareham and somersaulted three times before crashing on its roof.

Claire, of Farmlea Road in Portchester, vividly recalls the terrifying moment the car went off the road at 8pm on Tuesday.

The next few minutes were a desperate struggle for

survival.

She said: "I just remember going over the top. I have not been able to sleep because I just keep replaying that moment. The car crashed and it landed upside down and I just thought, 'I'm not going to get out of this.' Then I realised no one would know I was there so I had to get out."

Claire, a temp at Portsmouth Dockyards, said she had turned off Wallington roundabout on her way to Sainsbury's when a combination of surface water and diesel on the road caused the car to skid out of control.

Having already survived a serious accident as a milk lady three years ago when a car ploughed into her milk float, Claire thought her time was finally up.

She said: "I just thought, 'There is no way I'm lucky enough to survive two accidents,' but I think someone up there was looking out for me."

When no one came to her aid she struggled to undo her seatbelt despite her head being partially submerged by water and then clambered out of the smashed passenger window and back up to the road for help.

When no one stopped she made her way to the nearby Roundabout Hotel where manager Paul Askew called the emergency services and rallied his staff to look after her.

With just aches and bruising to show for her brush with death, Claire was discharged from the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham after precautionary checks and returned home at 11pm that night.