Women survive car cliff plunge

Four women walked away with minor injuries after their car plunged 30 metres down a cliff into a swimming pool.

The Nissan Note hatchback veered off the road early this morning after failing to negotiate a bend. It crashed through a clifftop fence and came to rest in a disused outdoor pool on the beach at Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear.

The women, a group of friends, were treated by a paramedic at the scene of the accident, which happened just after midnight.

"It came to a halt in a tidal salt water pool known as the Sealife Rock pool. Fortunately the tide was out," a Northumbria police spokesman said.

Will Hogg, of the Tynemouth volunteer life brigade, attended the accident and told the North Tyneside News Guardian the women had had "a very lucky escape".

"The car had rolled sideways down the bank and ended up on its wheels inside the pool perimeter," he said.