Kelli Chapman escaped from her car 'badly shaken' but 'without a cut'. Photograph: Wales News

A pregnant woman who stands 4ft 11in (1.49m) has cheated death thanks to her height after a giant girder smashed into her car. Kelli Chapman, 26, was at traffic lights when the 1.5 tonnes of steel fell from a passing lorry and ripped open her Golf GTi "like a tin can". Her father Rob said his daughter, of Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, would have died instantly if she been any taller. "She is so incredibly lucky. It really was a miracle," he said. Ms Chapman, an office worker who is three months pregnant, was heading home for lunch when the lorry took a corner in the centre of Ammanford. The girder shot through her windscreen over her head in last month's incident. If she had been any taller - or even if if her car had been three inches closer to the kerb - the girder would have hit her directly on the head

Pc Rob Chapman, Kelli Chapman's father She managed to call her policeman father from inside the crushed vehicle to ask for help. Pc Chapman, a community safety officer with Dyfed-Powys Police, said: "Kelli called me and said: 'Dad, some metal has fallen on my car.' "But when I arrived at the scene I was just stunned. "I could not believe what I was seeing. It was carnage. If she was not such a petite girl she would be dead. "If she had been any taller - or even if if her car had been three inches closer to the kerb - the girder would have hit her directly on the head." Kelli Chapman said she was "so lucky" to have escaped unhurt He added: "The car is a complete write-off but, incredibly, Kelli walked away without a cut. "She is so incredibly lucky. It really was a miracle." Ms Chapman said she saw the girder begin to move and "it came crashing down". She said: "It happened so suddenly. I was trapped inside. But I phoned my dad and he helped get me out. "I'm OK and so is my baby. I'm so lucky."



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