A DRIVER who broke her back in a car crash, managed to summon enough strength to lift the vehicle and rescue a friend.

Eight-and-a-half stone Kyla Smith, 23, found the strength to lift the car enough so stricken Jonathon Connor could free himself from the wreck.

The pair had been on a camping trip with Kyla's boyfriend and were driving to get supplies when the car went off the road.

Kyla was camping on Sunday night when the accident happened.

She said: "I was driving and I felt the car slip a little. I lost control because I hit some bricks that someone had put on the road and went onto the grass which was wet and slippy.

"The car ran away from me and crashed into a tree. It went right up it and fell, landing on its passenger side. Jonathon Connor, my friend who was with me, was turned by the crash and his legs were under the car out the window.

"I undid my seatbelt and fell on top of him and managed to get out of the car. I didn't think that I had hurt myself and when I noticed Jonathon's legs stuck under the car I had to do something.

"I have no idea how I did it, but I managed to lift the car enough so that he could slide his legs away.

"We both got out and we tried to get help. Luckily there was a woman walking her dogs nearby when it happened and she rang the police. We don't know who she was so we would like to thank her for what she did.

"I'm not sure what would have happened if the ambulance and the police hadn't arrived so quickly."

The drama unfolded when Kyla, who works for a personal protection company, was on the camping trip at Steel Park, Washington, Tyne and Wear.

When paramedics arrived both Kyla, 23, and Jonathon, 19, were taken to Sunderland General Hospital for treatment.

It was soon discovered that Kyla had fractured her spine, and smashed a vertebrae at the top of her back and was in serious danger.

Miss Smith, who lives in the Grindon area of Sunderland, said: "The doctors said that they couldn't tell if the fracture was stable or not and that they had to keep me in over night.

"I slept on a special spinal table to prevent anything happening to me.

They said that if I had been allowed to move I would have been paralysed."

Kyla's mother, Valerie, 46, who also lives in Grindon, Sunderland, said: "The first I heard was when I got a phone call from David, Kyla's boyfriend. And by the time I got to the crash scene, the ambulances were speeding away.

"I was so worried when I discovered what had happened, but proud as well to think that Kyla had been able to lift a car.

"When she did it, she caused herself more damage, but she saved her friend and that is what she was concerned about.

"She is still in bad way and will be off work for months. We live together and I am just glad she is okay."

Petite Kyla Smith, who weighs just eight and a half stone, says she has no idea how she managed to lift her MGZR hatchback car to rescue her friend.

Kyla explained that the car had come to rest on its passenger side after the crash.

During the accident her passenger, Jonathon Connor, had been thrown up off his seat and his legs had ended up outside the open window, and then became trapped under the weight of the one tonne vehicle.

"I scrambled out of the driver's side window," explained Kyla.

"I then knew I had to move the car off Jonathon, so he could get his legs out. So I put my arm back through the drivers window, and grabbed the roof of the car by the sun roof and just hauled the car up off him.

"I managed to lift it enough to get his leg from under the car, so I suppose I must have lifted the whole thing up about six or seven inches.

"I wasn't aware of the weight at all, all I was thinking was getting his leg out and stopping it from being broken. Jonathon was in a lot of pain, but he was also in shock, so that stopped him feeling the pain."

During the crash Kyla suffered a crushed vertebrae in her neck and a fractured vertebrae in her spine, just below her shoulder blades.

She is able to walk and move around, but was kept in hospital for a couple of days while doctors made sure the fractures were stable enough for her to leave.

She will be X-rayed again next week when she will find out how long she will be off work, but she is expecting to be off for months rather than weeks.

Jonathon has been left with a blood clot at the top of his leg and his ankle is very swollen.

"Jonathon is in quite a bit of pain," said Kyla. "He's on crutches at the moment, but we were both incredibly lucky. Looking at the state of the car, we are lucky to come out of that alive."

She added: "I have no idea how I managed to lift the car. Ordinarily I wouldn't have been able to push it if it broke down and was on its wheels, so I really don't know how I lifted it, I suppose the adrenalin kicked in and took over."