NSW Fire and Rescue and police were at the scene for more than two hours recovering the car, which was wedged between trees down the embankment off Pacific Street, Batemans Bay.

Check out our gallery from the accident scene HERE. According to eyewitnesses, the woman’s car mounted the gutter and smashed into a fence and then continued to slide down the embankment, and finally hit a tree, at about 11am.

Video of the vehicle salvage

The embankment backs onto nearby units and a woman, whose backdoor was just behind the wreckage, said she heard the car skid and then a crash.

She said the “young girl got herself out and she was trying to get down, screaming out ‘help me’”.

She said a man helped the woman out of the car, and she was taken to hospital for observation.

However, smoke continued to ooze out from under the car’s bonnet.

The engine was still running, and wheels were spinning even 20 minutes after the accident occurred.

Police, ambulance and NSW Fire and Rescue were called to the smash and fire fighters used a large hose from the top of the cliff to stop the smoke.

They aimed the water through the smashed bonnet, which killed the ignition and ultimately stopped the engine.

Firefighters then secured themselves on cables and abseiled down the steep climb to secure the car and clear the area of trees to allow a crane to hoist the wreckage out.

The car was finally hoisted out of the embankment about two hours after the accident.

It is unknown at this stage what the woman’s age is, only that she is a young woman, possibly in her late teens.

There was also a red P-plate located at the scene, and marks on the gutter which showed the woman appeared to have been travelling up the hill, west from Beach Road towards the hospital.

It was raining at the time of the accident.