Jo Sione-Lauaki was found dead on a remote Northland beach on Friday, after failing to return home on Thursday night. Video / Cameron Pitney / NZ Herald
Witnesses have described desperate attempts to lift a rolled forklift pinning its driver’s leg to a residential Mount Maunganui street as he screamed for help yesterday.
“Good Samaritans” with jacks and blocks rushed to help the trapped man after the forklift tipped over on Links Ave, near Links Ave Reserve, shortly before noon yesterday.
Two Links Ave residents who spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times on the condition they were not named, said people poured out of their homes and gathered around the trapped driver to try and help him before emergency services arrived.
One said on hearing screams of “help me, help me” she ran out of her house in “her PJs” and found the trapped driver.
“I was the first person at the scene after the crash but realised I had forgotten my phone and ran back inside to get it and called 111 for an ambulance.
“It was pretty scary and I felt pretty helpless”.
By the time she got back to the driver there were about 10 other people, including some of her neighbours, gathered around him to help.
She said the driver was repeatedly screaming out in pain.
The forklift rolled on Links Ave near Links Ave Reserve on Monday. Photo / Sandra Conchie
“We all tried to lift the forklift off his pinned leg but it was too heavy, and the injured driver was conscious and talking the whole time.”
The witness said two people grabbed small car jacks and another sourced a larger jack which they used as well as wooden blocks to jack up the forklift enough to relieve some of the pressure on the driver’s leg until emergency services arrived.
Another Links Ave resident said she saw the forklift tip over and heard the pinned driver calling out for help so grabbed her small jack.
“I don’t think I have ever heard someone scream like this in my life before.”
She recalled him being worried he might lose his leg and talking about a concrete barrier on the road nearby.
She said the pinned driver was given water and a phone to enable him to talk to his partner.
The resident said she admired the driver’s courage and a St John ambulance and Fire and Emergency staff were on the scene within minutes.
“I think it was an awesome community effort to try and free the driver’s leg. I hope the driver is not too seriously injured.”
Police Acting Sergeant Bruce Gordon told the Bay of Plenty Times at the scene one of the forklift driver’s legs was pinned and it appeared he may have fractures.
Fire crews used heavy rescue equipment to raise the forklift and free the injured man, Gordon said.
A St John spokesman said the driver was taken to Tauranga Hospital in a moderate condition.
Mount Maunganui Fire Brigade station officer Paul van Kol said when firefighters arrived at the scene ambulance staff were already attending to the trapped forklift driver whose lower leg and ankle area were pinned underneath the forklift.
Van Kol said a heavy rescue tender from the Tauranga Fire Station was needed to rescue the trapped driver and airbags were also used to help raise the forklift high enough. The man was freed “within minutes”.
Van Kol praised the group of residents who swung into action to help the injured driver and described them as “good Samaritans”.
Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter, head of the Western Bay of Plenty road policing team, said the cause of the crash was being investigated.
Hunter said initial indications were the forklift drove over part of a low concrete median barrier erected as a safety barrier for cyclists and pedestrians and then “tipped over” on its side as the driver attempted to over-correct.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She covers mainly police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
