The sister of a teenager who was trapped in his car for 30 hours south of Newcastle has told of her family’s extraordinary bid to find him, including hiring a helicopter.
Megan Lethbridge, 19, became concerned when she could not locate her 17-year-old brother Sam on Sunday evening and went to police about 8pm.
‘I asked if there had been any accidents,’ Ms Lethbridge told Daily Mail Australia. ‘I asked “is there anything you can do?”.
‘They told me Sam had probably just run away. I said “that’s not him. Something is really wrong”.’
Sam Lethbridge, 17, is taken by paramedics and NSW Fire and Rescue officers from the crash
Sam Lethbridge’s vehicle after he was cut free from the wreckage near Newcastle on Monday
Sam Lethbridge, 17, survived the night with a bone sticking out of his leg after his car left the Pacific Highway and slammed into an embankment at Murrays Beach
Sam Lethbridge, 17, was trapped for about 30 hours in his crashed car near Newcastle
Ms Lethbridge had last been in contact with her brother about 12.30am on Sunday after she finished her bar job and had been unable to find him after contacting his friends that afternoon.
Ms Lethbridge’s parents Tony and Lee were on a weekend away in Canberra, so she took on the responsibility of finding her brother.
Her parents arrived home about 1am Monday and also went to Belmont police station but were not satisfied with what was being done searching for their son.
‘Dad said as soon as he walked out “we’re gong to hire a helicopter and find him”,’ Ms Lethbridge said.
‘He said “I’m not going to just sit here and lose him”.’
Mr Lethbridge remembered there had been an accident about five years ago near where Sam’s car was eventually found and wanted to search there.
Sam was believed to have been driving from Gosford, on the Central Coast, to the Lethbridge family home at Blacksmiths, on Lake Macquarie, when he left the road after 6am on Sunday.
Paramedics and NSW Fire and Rescue officers work to free Sam Lethbridge from his car
Megan Lethbridge, 19, reported her brother Sam, 17, missing to police on Sunday night
NSW Fire and Rescue officers at Sam Lethbridge’s vehicle after the 17-year-old was cut free
Sam Lethbridge’s car had travelled about 20 metres off the highway on Sunday morning
On Monday, Mr Lethbridge hired a helicopter which went up with pilot Lee Mitchell and Mr Lethbridge’s brother Michael about 9.45am.
At 10.01am Michael Lethbridge sent a text message to his brother to say he had spotted Sam’s crashed car off the Pacific Highway at Murrays Beach, south of Newcastle.
When Michael Lethbridge was able to reach the crashed vehicle he could see that Sam had survived the night. He had a bone sticking out of his leg.
Emergency services including ambulance and fire crews were called to the scene.
Sam was trapped in the driver’s seat with a compound fracture to his right femur and fractures to his ankle and arm. He was freed about midday, Ms Lethbridge said.
Ms Lethbridge wanted to thank the helicopter pilot and motorist Billy Creanor who stopped to render first aid.
Megan Lethbridge knew something was wrong when she could not contact her brother Sam
Sam (left) was discovered at 10.45am on Monday when his uncle spotted the wreckage on the side of the road. His sister and father are pictured right
The rescue operation took a painstaking 45 minutes, during which time Sam was given pain medication and stabilised by paramedics
Tyre marks from Sam Lethbridge’s car can be seen leaving the road and leading into bushland
Sam was given pain medication during the rescue operation and was stabilised by paramedics.
NSW Ambulance superintendent Jeff Atkins said: ‘When we got to him he was pretty dehydrated. But his clinical observations were quite good which was amazing.’
‘He then had to be carried back to the highway.’
Sam was taken by ambulance to the John Hunter Hospital where he remains. He had suffered an ankle injury, a fractured forearm and a compound fracture to his femur.
Superintendent Atkins said the teenager would need to undergo a ‘world of physio’ to regain full use of his injured leg.
The teenager needed to be cut from the wreckage (pictured) when he was discovered badly injured on the side of the Pacific Highway south of Newcastle