A baby had a lucky escape yesterday when a young mother crashed her car into a concrete wall -- and moments later lost control of the vehicle and watched it roll into Pembroke Canal.

Fortunately, moments after the woman had bumped the car, she handed her four-month-old son to people standing nearby to pass to his father. Then as she began to pull the car away from the wall, the car door opened and the mother lost control, falling to the ground.

There, with a gash to her head, she watched the Peugeot cross the sidewalk, go across the two-laned road and nose into the canal along Woodlands Road.

Witnesses said the boy's mother backed into the concrete loading bay at the Butterfield and Vallis building and hit her head.

Salvation Army officers Captains Brian and Susan Fuller were at the scene and saw the accident.

Car falls in canal "She (the mother) had a cut on her forehead. She was shaken up,'' said Mr.

Fuller.

He said he took her to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital before Police arrived on the scene. An HWP tow truck attempted to recover the vehicle but left after snapping off the car's rear tow hook.

The car was later recovered and traffic continued undisturbed.