A man who spent an agonising night trapped in a car wreck after a 20m cliff plunge into a bay says it’s thanks to a jogger who heard his cries for help that he’s alive.

Volunteer and Great Barrier Island resident Leon Foster is out of hospital after he was rescued from a 10-hour ordeal with water lapping inside his vehicle and internal bleeding hours from taking his life.

Foster told the Herald he was five minutes from home after leaving the local social club when he misjudged a corner and his car cartwheeled down a bank at 8pm on July 9.

“I must have passed out because I don’t remember going over the edge.

“The car flipped three times and down about 20m.

“I came to in the passenger seat and I had blood all down my face. I thought I hit the water. I thought it was water on my face.

“My internal stomach was so sore. I couldn’t move,” the 51-year-old said.

Leon Foster spent 10 hours trapped in his car before being rescued after it plummeted off a cliff on Great Barrier Island. Photo / Westpac Auckland Rescue

Foster’s phone flew out of the window during the car’s plunge and wasn’t found until the next day.

“I was horrified. It’s so traumatic.

“I sat there and the water started coming down by my feet and into the car.

“Because I couldn’t get out of either of the doors, and I couldn’t move because my stomach, I just sat there and thought, ‘Oh, well, this is me’.

“There was water all splashing around my ankles.”

Foster said he sat in his car all night because he thought there was no point sounding the horn and yelling out for help, as no one would hear him in the remote location.

“I had no watch, I had no phones, I couldn’t tell the time. I sat there, and it was a bright moon, something like the sun’s coming up, but it wasn’t,” Foster said.

Leon Foster, 51, says he must have passed out when his vehicle left the road and tumbled down a cliff. Photo / Supplied

Friend sparks rescue mission

About 6am, Foster began honking his horn and calling out in hope of catching someone driving past on their way to work.

“I started on the horn and started yelling out, ‘help, help’ and just kept going for about an hour and a half before someone actually heard me,” Foster said.

A friend was jogging and heard him from the other side of the bay.

“She’s the first one that actually heard me and was straight on to it.”

Another good friend was also one of the first to the scene and called emergency services.

An extensive rescue mission off Puriri Bay Rd was sparked and he was plucked to safety.

“The ambulance got there, and they couldn’t get to me because I was down a 20m drop,” Foster said.

An ambulance worker then climbed through the broken driver’s window and started administering first aid.

Several other first responders that Foster happened to be friends with from the local fire brigade and police turned up at the scene.

“It actually made me a bit more comfortable knowing everybody,” Foster said.

The rescue helicopter was called and Foster was given painkillers before he was removed from the car.

“They had to actually chopper me out.

“Like a winch, put me on a stretcher and chopper me out of there and then take me to a secure location to secure me, and then chopper me to Auckland.”

Leon Foster was winched to safety after spending the night down a bank in his car wreck on Great Barrier Island.

‘Phenomenal’ rescue team

Foster was transported on the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Auckland City Hospital to begin his lengthy recovery.

“The rescue chopper team, oh my God, they are phenomenal. They were always checking in with me. They’re so professional. I can’t thank them enough.

“Turns out I ended up internally bleeding. If I hadn’t been saved when I [was] saved, I would have lasted a few more hours and bled out.

“I would have bled to death,” Foster said.

“One hundred per cent, hands down all of them saved my life.”

Foster was discharged from hospital last week and continues to recover from the numerous injuries he received.

He spent some time in the ICU, including on his birthday, while receiving treatment for serious abdominal and head injuries.

“I got my windscreen and the glass went through my head.”

Foster thanked all his friends, nurses and emergency services staff for their life-saving efforts.

“They were just so empathetic.

“I can’t believe how they made me feel.

“They were so caring and explaining everything to me and talking to me, not at me.”