A mum who was trapped in a Land Rover which overturned in a horror crash said she and her family were lucky to escape with their lives.
Carrie Hargraves and her cousin, Carla Hargraves, who was driving, had to be cut free from the wreckage while four of their children managed to climb out after smashing a window.
They were on their way to watch the pantomime in Rhyl on December 27 when the vehicle lost control and veered up an embankment, before flipping onto its roof on the s-bends on Lower Denbigh Road.
The route was shut for hours while emergency services worked at the scene, with Carla left in a leg brace and Carrie with stitches to her head and her collar bone fractured in five places.
Luckily, Carrie's 15-year-old daughter, Leah and Carla's children Rhys, 11, Carys, nine and six-year-old, Elin Cummings suffered only bumps and bruises.
Now Carrie wants to thank the police, firefighters and ambulance crews for looking after them, as well as the passing good Samaritans who rushed to help, after what she admitted "could have been a very different life-changing event."
Speaking to North Wales Live, the 39-year-old from St Asaph said: "I was a passenger in Carla's seven-seater Land Rover, we were on our way to the panto and I was on the phone talking to another cousin.
"I heard Carla say: 'Oh my God' and when I looked up, we were in the middle of the road and were straddling both lanes.
"We then veered into the embankment, hit a tree stump and the Land Rover flipped over onto its roof.
"I remember the kids screaming, it was heartbreaking, and we shouted to each other to make sure everyone was ok.
"I was in agony with my shoulder and I could feel blood coming from my head. I couldn't move, I was trapped."
She added: "Rhys managed to smash one of the back windows and crawl out and the other children followed him.
"The police said had my daughter been sitting at the back, it might have been a different story as she is older and therefore bigger than the younger ones.
"It took firefighters around 45 minutes to cut Carla out and another 45 minutes to get me out.
"We were then taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd for treatment."
Student nurse, Carrie said she "can't praise the emergency services enough" and said she also wants to thank a passing off-duty ambulance worker who went to and from the wreckage offering reassurance and checking on the children.
The mum-of-two, who also has an older daughter, said: "Everyone was amazing. I can't fault them.
"The off-duty ambulance worker was incredible and stayed with us the whole time.
"There was also a young firefighter who was talking us through everything while we were being cut out.
"I'd love to be able to thank them all personally.
"In the aftermath of the crash, I've realised how lucky we have all been to get out alive.
"When I think back to the state of the Land Rover and see the pictures, it hits home how serious it could have been.
"We don't know what caused the crash as we are waiting for a police report but apparently there was a crash at the exact same spot the night before and a police officer told my dad there might have been petrol on the road.
"It makes you feel sick to think what could've happened really. I'm just so grateful that we are all safe."
