Emergency response staff who attended a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 2 just past Bartletts on Thursday afternoon said the people involved were lucky to have avoided serious injury.
Police, Fire and Emergency crews from Manutuke and Gisborne, St John Ambulance and the Trust Tairāwhiti Rescue Helicopter were called to the crash at around 3.30pm.
“A car and a van had collided, and inside the van were 11 elderly Māhia residents who had been to have medical checks done at Gisborne Hospital,” an emergency services spokesperson said.
“The two vehicles sideswiped each other. It was very close to a head-on collision.
“Two of the elderly folk were flown to Gisborne Hospital with moderate (Status 3) injuries, and a third was driven to hospital by ambulance, also Status 3.”
