KEY POINTS:
A head-on collision in the central North Island yesterday resulted in the death of an American woman tourist and serious injuries to four others.
The accident happened in Mangakino around 4.30pm when the car carrying the victim, her partner and school-age son turned a blind corner just before the Mangakino stream bridge and collided with a couple in an on-coming vehicle. It is thought the car the dead woman was in crossed the centre line.
The couple in the other car, believed to be from Te Awamutu, sustained serious injuries and were airlifted to Waikato Hospital. The dead woman's partner and son were taken by road to Tokoroa with moderate injuries.
Mangakino chief fire officer John Kelso said the family of the victim and the Kiwi couple were lucky to be alive. "They collided on quite a steep hill just before the bridge and past a blind corner. It was a dead, smack, head-on collision, and both the cars are total write-offs."
Debbie Payne, a Mangakino resident, was on the scene soon after the accident and says she spent some time comforting the small boy.
"I kept asking him questions and he could tell me his birthday and stuff. He was just clinging to me saying 'Please don't leave me'. It was so sad."
Payne said it was "incredible" how quickly the community and local emergency services pulled together to help the situation. She said the most heroic effort came from two boys from nearby Kelly's Motors, who ran to the scene with fire extinguishers. "They are the real heroes of the day."
Emergency workers were kept busy around the North Island yesterday. A 19-year-old woman ended up in hospital with head injuries after car-surfing early yesterday evening. Papakura sergeant Emiel Logan said the woman slid off the car's roof when it turned a corner in Waiuku. "When the car went around the corner, she kept going straight ahead."
He said the driver, a 17-year-old girl, had been drinking. She and the other passenger in the car, also a teenage girl, were uninjured. And five people were injured when the car they were in smashed into a light pole on the on-ramp between Auckland's Northwestern and Southern motorways yesterday evening. All five suffered moderate injuries.
In Wellington, a motorcyclist was killed after being cut off by another vehicle along Eastern Hutt Road in Wellington. And four occupants of a van were seriously injured yesterday after rolling down a hill along SH4, 15km north of Taumaranui.
