A PREGNANT Newport woman yesterday thanked two police officers who saved her life, pulling her from her crashed car on the coldest night of the year.

Ashma Begum, 21, lost control of her Fiat Punto on a motorway before spinning across three lanes of traffic and careering 100 metres through dense woodland.

She was stranded unconscious in a ditch and in danger of freezing to death as snow fell and temperatures plunged to minus four degrees.

Luckily PCs Rob Petty and Alan Taylor went past the scene 30 minutes later in pursuit of a speeding car and caught a glimpse of her taillights in the undergrowth.

They bundled her out of the mangled car's window and rushed her to hospital saving the lives of both Ashma and her unborn baby.

Yesterday, Ashma was reunited with the officers who saved her life.

She said: "I just remember losing control of the car and hitting my head. After that it is a blank. I'm incredibly lucky to be alive. I owe my life to these officers."

Ashma was eight weeks pregnant when the accident happened on February 22 as she drove home to Newport from a shopping trip to Swindon.

PC Petty, a traffic officer with Avon and Somerset Police, said: "That night was very cold. There was sleet and snow and the roads were icy.

"We were on our way back to base when we saw a speeding motorist and followed but our attention was drawn to fading red lights in the distance."

The two officers pulled on to the hard shoulder and ran to the car.