Boy, 16, dies holding hand of stranger

Mark Shears and Nicole Bieleski rushed to the scene of the fatal crash on SH22 early yesterday morning. Picture / Brett Phibbs

A 16-year-old youth died holding a stranger's hand as three of his friends perished in an inferno when their car crashed near Pukekohe yesterday.

Their deaths mean the Easter road toll already equals the four people killed during the entire Easter holiday weekend last year.

The young man died in a ditch after he was thrown from the car with another backseat passenger moments before it crashed into trees and burst into flames.

The young occupants had been heading home after a night in the city when the crash happened on State Highway 22 between Drury and Pukekohe.

A taxi driver told police that just before the accident at 2.30am, the car overtook him in a passing lane, travelling at between 130km/h and 140km/h.

Sergeant John Yearbury of Counties Manukau said last night that police were confident they knew who the victims were.

They were likely to be named later today after formal identification using dental records.

Police believe two were aged 16 and the others 19 and 25.

The sole survivor, also 16, was yesterday transferred from Middlemore Hospital to Auckland Hospital and was in a critical condition.

Sergeant Noel Foster of Pukekohe said the victims knew one another and five families were grieving.

"They grew up in this community and essentially [this tragedy] rocks the whole place."

Mark Shears and Nicole Bieleski, who had been celebrating the start of the Easter weekend with friends at a nearby house, ran to the scene and found the vehicle engulfed by fire.

"I heard the massive crash and a woosh sound like something exploding," said Ms Bieleski, a schoolteacher.

They found the two 16-year-olds lying in a ditch on the opposite side of the road from the burning vehicle.

Mr Shears said rubber tyres were torn from the wheels and debris was strewn over the road.

Ms Bieleski said the car's make was unrecognisable because it had been compacted and badly burned.

She said the surviving youth had head injuries and possibly a broken leg. He was conscious and had asked about his friends.

"We said 'they're all right, don't worry about it' but one of them was right next to him."

Mr Shears said the other 16-year-old died shortly after they arrived. "I took his hand. We did what we could do, you know," he told the Weekend Herald yesterday.

Two women who visited the crash scene yesterday thanked the pair for being with the dying man and his injured friend. They said they were close to one of the dead men.

The group had known one another since high school and were part of a large group of friends in the township.

The victim they were close to had not liked school but had recently "turned his life around" and become an apprentice mechanic, they said. He had driven his car home on Thursday evening and told his family he was going out with some mates and would be home later.

Mr Foster said police had not known who was in the car with the registered owner at the time of the crash. They compiled a list of 13 possible passengers and worked through the names.

People on the list were spoken to and passed on cellphone numbers for others. Police had had "a combination of people who could have been in that vehicle" and eventually found one person who had seen the car and its passengers in the city.

"From the information we started making sensitive inquiries."

Stephen Caldwell, chief executive of Victim Support, said the organisation had crisis teams on standby.

The Easter holiday weekend officially started at 4pm on Thursday and finishes at 6am on Tuesday.

Before the Easter break, road safety advocates had flagged speeding, fatigue and driver inattention as the key risks motorists needed to be aware of.