Te Puke crash survivor still recovering

Firefighters clean up the mess left behind from a crash which claimed the life of a man and put another in hospital. Photo/file

A Te Puke teen involved in a fatal crash near the township on Sunday is this morning recovering in a hospital ward.

The 19-year-old was seriously injured in a crash that killed Paruhi Watson, 23, after the car they were in struck a lamp post and crashed into a tree on Jellicoe St just after 6pm.

The teen was passenger in the vehicle that Watson was driving on August 13. Watson was trapped inside the vehicle on Jellicoe St and died soon after.

A Bay of Plenty District Health Board spokesman said the Te Puke teen had been moved from Tauranga Hospital's Intensive Care Unit and was now in a stable condition in a ward.

The cause of the crash was still being investigated. It was the sixth road fatality in the district this year.