Crash claims unborn baby, mother critical

Photo / APN

A young couple are in hospital after a horrific car accident that killed their unborn baby and left the mother fighting for her life.

The car, driven by the 18-year-old mother, was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle. The woman was last night "still in a very critical condition", a hospital spokeswoman said.

Her partner is also in Whangarei Hospital suffering from moderate injuries.

A resident of Whangarei Heads Rd, where the accident occurred, called it a "chaotic" scene and heard the impact from inside her home 30m away.

Jenny Nuttall was alerted to the collision by a piercing "bang" from the road about 9.15pm on Sunday.

'It was a really loud bang ... just a big thump really," she said.

The piece of road where the cars collided was down hill with a slight bend in it.

"It's a little bit of a blind corner to what's coming up the road," Ms Nuttall said.

Whangarei senior fire station officer Ron Wilson said one of the cars involved was "pretty severely damaged".

The woman's 14-year-old male cousin was travelling with them and was flown to Auckland's Starship Hospital with serious injuries.

He was in a stable condition last night.

The 27-year-old in the other car received minor injuries.

The crash happened about 20km south-east from Whangarei.