Driver, 12, and passengers injured after hitting tree

A 12-year-old Tauranga boy driving a car with two teenage passengers needed leg surgery after crashing head-on into a tree on Matakana Island.
The boy, who remains in a stable condition in Tauranga Hospital, was trapped in the car for about 30 minutes yesterday after hitting the tree, Tauranga-based TrustPower TECT rescue helicopter spokesman Liam Brettkelly said.
"I understand the dashboard came down and pinned the 12-year-old's legs."
The boy was flown to hospital after being freed by locals and St John Ambulance paramedics, who flew to the island on the helicopter.
His young passengers, a 14-year-old girl from Matakana Island, and a 15-year-old Auckland boy, suffered facial and other minor injuries and were flown to the same hospital shortly before the driver.
They were checked over in hospital and released.
"I arrived on the island and found some ladies giving first aid to the two passengers in the village, while the driver was still trapped in the Mazda car," Mr Brettkelly said.
The trio had been travelling along a forestry road on the island when they left the road and hit the tree head-on, he said.
Matakana Island has a population of more than 100 people and police take a barge across the water to any incidents.
Tauranga police Strategic Traffic Unit Senior Sergeant Ian Campion said if the accident happened on a private forestry road, it would be unlikely that police would investigate it. Chief fire officer Ian Blunt said he understood a parent of one of the children was on the island at the time of the crash.
The TrustPower TECT rescue helicopter was called to Matakana Island again at 3.30am today. A man in his 20s was flown to Tauranga Hospital with head injuries. No further details were available this morning.
additional reporting, NZPA