Digger used to lift bus off trapped driver

The scene of the accident. Photo / Christine Cornege.

A quick-thinking contractor who used his digger to lift a bus off its trapped driver, and an off-duty nurse who gave the man oxygen as he lay hurt, may have saved his life yesterday.

The bizarre accident outside Waikato Hospital came as a motorcyclist and a 16-year-old boy riding on a ute were killed in separate accidents, lifting the holiday road toll to five.

The man remains in the hospital's intensive care unit this morning and is in a "critical but stable condition", Waikato DHB spokesperson Mary Anne Gill said.

The 52-year-old was pinned to the ground for 10 minutes by the Orbiter bus after it ran over him about 9.15am outside the main entrance to the hospital carpark.

The bus then flattened a road sign before ploughing into a lamppost at a pedestrian crossing, smashing its windscreen and leaving a large dent in its front.

It is understood the digging contractor was working at a nearby building and saw the driver trapped.

He drove his digger to the front of the bus and used the scoop to lift the vehicle off the driver enough to allow him to breathe as firefighters rushed to the scene.

The nurse saw what was happening and gave the man oxygen as he lay under the bus.

Hamilton police shift commander Sergeant Craig Taylor said itwas not known if there were any passengers on board or why the driver had left his bus at the time.

Mr Taylor said the bus was left in gear and moved forward, running the man over.

He said the man was eventually freed by firefighters who used hydraulic jacks to lift the bus off him. He suffered severe internal injuries.

A woman at the scene thought the driver might have been doing tyre-pressure checks when the bus began rolling forward.

But Pavlovich Coachlines chief executive Bernard Pavlovich dismissed this as "mere speculation".

"I'm not sure if a bystander is in any position to make these kinds of assumptions," he said.

"It's just deeply disturbing that someone has been injured, and apparently quite severely at this stage."

Mr Pavlovich said his company would be investigating the incident. The police serious crash unit and a commercial vehicle investigation team are also making inquiries.

The bus accident was followed by the death of a 16-year-old boy.

The teenager was riding on the back of a ute when the vehicle left the road and rolled, killing him instantly.

The accident happened in Rakau Rd at Reporoa, northeast of Taupo, just after 1.30pm.

Another passenger on the back of the ute was seriously hurt, while the 15-year-old driver suffered minor injuries.

A motorcyclist was killed in the second fatal crash of the day after colliding with a car on a gravel road off State Highway 4, north of Wanganui.

Emergency services were called to the scene at Kaiwhaiki Rd just before 2pm.

Resident Zebulun Clarke said a man and a woman drove into his driveway saying, "Call the cops, call the cops", after their car collided with the motorcyclist.

"They were really distraught. They said he ran into them and they said there was lots of blood."

Mr Clarke said his aunt called the emergency services and comforted the couple, while another relative went to the site of the accident.

The official holiday-season road toll period started at 4pm on Christmas Eve and runs until 6am on January 5.

Until yesterday, the road toll had stood at three.

Gayle Jean Anderson, 44, died in a crash near Dunedin on Christmas Eve, and Vineshwar Singh, 40, was killed in a hit-and-run on Helvetia Rd, Pukekohe early on Christmas Day.

Mary-Lee Huata, 17, died after the Toyota Hilux she was a passenger in crashed in Hawkes Bay on Tuesday. The driver was a 13-year-old boy.

Twelve people were injured in a pile-up near Hastings on Monday but no one was killed.

Last year, 13 people were killed over the Christmas-New Year break.