Woman Bound and Gagged Jumps From Moving Car in Papatoetoe

A gagged and bound woman who jumped from a moving car - sparking a major manhunt in Auckland - is in a critical condition and "causing concern", doctors say.

A health board spokeswoman said the woman, who was found bleeding and frothing at the mouth after the incident on Huia Rd, near the corner of East Tamaki Rd, Papatoetoe, was being treated at Middlemore Hospital.

Police are remaining tight-lipped over the operation which has stretched through the night.

A police cordon remains in place this morning on a section of Huia Rd.

Huia Rd resident Jay Shah told the Herald he was bringing in his rubbish bins when the car sped past about 7pm.

Its boot popped open and the woman - who was bound, gagged and tied around her neck, legs and arms - fell on to the road.

"I was getting the rubbish bins back into the house and I saw someone jump out of the boot of the car," Mr Shah said.

"When I saw the body fall out of the boot, I ran towards the body to make sure everything was all right. I thought she was about to die.

"She had a metal rod next to her ... so I think she used the metal rod to jack open the boot and then jump out.

"Her legs were tied and her hands were tied up and she was strangled around the neck with cloth strips."

The woman was Asian and in her late 30s to early 40s, he guessed.

She appeared to be frothing at the mouth.

Mr Shah told the Herald he could see bruises on her hands and wrists, where she was tied.

"I untied the tie around her neck so that she could breathe and by that time, a few others came and they helped me get other strips of cloth off her neck as well," he said. "She couldn't talk. Her nose was bleeding and she was frothing from her mouth."

The car kept driving, he said.

He did not think the driver realised the woman had managed to free herself from the boot.

Read the full story at NZHerald.co.nz