Athenree Gorge fatal crash: Children among seven people injured as two cars collide on State Highway 2 near Waihi

Children aged 6 and 8 are among those injured in a fatal crash on State Highway 2 in the Western Bay of Plenty yesterday.

A fire chief has described the crash, which killed one person and injured seven others in Athenree Gorge, near Waihi, as “up there” with the worst he has seen.

Hospitals have confirmed this morning all of those injured are stable.

Police last night confirmed one person died following the two-car collision at 3.45pm on Monday. The death takes the holiday road toll to 17 so far.

SH2 was closed for several hours.

One person has died and seven have been injured in the crash near Waihi. Photo / Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters

A Waikato Hospital spokesman said it received four patients from the crash, three from the scene and one who was transported from Tauranga Hospital.

“We currently have two patients stable in our High Dependency Unit while another two are stable in two separate wards.”

An Auckland Hospital spokeswoman said a patient was in a serious but stable condition.

A Tauranga Hospital spokeswoman said three girls aged 8, 6 and 17 went to the hospital. The 6-year-old was airlifted to Waikato Hospital last night and the other two were in a stable condition.

Among those airlifted from the scene were a man in his 40s and a woman in her 70s, Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters previously reported.

Four rescue helicopters and 20 firefighters from three stations were among the emergency services sent to the scene.

Waihi chief fire officer Moe Stevens said eight firefighters attended from Waihi and helped to extract people from the vehicles.

“We were the first ones there,” he said.

“Four people had to be physically cut from the vehicle.”

Emergency services at the scene of a fatal car crash in Athenree Gorge, near Waihi. Photo / Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters

Fire crews from Mayor View helped with traffic control and Katikati Fire Brigade was also called for backup to help with extraction, he said.

There had been between six to eight crashes on the same stretch of road in the last 12 to 18 months, he said.

“We have had a couple of head-ons and a few cars have gone off the road.”

Stevens said yesterday’s accident was “up there” with some of the worst crashes he had seen in his career.

“It is not very nice,” he said. He said firefighters often did not hear about what happened to the people afterwards, but sometimes he thought that might be for the best.

Stevens encouraged motorists to drive to the conditions and “keep an eye on the road” while travelling during the holiday season.

Katikati fire station officer Brendan Gibbs said they were called to the scene to help extract two people from one of the vehicles.