Driver gives CPR to dying girl

A driver involved in a Dunedin crash rushed to give CPR to a dying teenager who lay unconscious in the back seat of the other car.

The 18-year-old girl, who has not been identified by police, was one of six young people in a Ford Laser that police say failed to give way at an inner-city intersection about 2.15am yesterday.

She died in Dunedin Hospital after witnesses saw the driver of the vehicle that collided with the Laser give her CPR.

A witness, who did not want to be named, said she saw the driver of the overloaded car that failed to give way flee the scene.

"He [the driver] was pacing around the car," she said. "But everyone was in shock and then they just noticed he had gone."

He was later found by police, who have not laid any charges in relation to the crash and would not be drawn on details of the investigation yesterday.

Hope St resident Leah Coster said she saw the crash happen beneath her window.

"They [the Laser's occupants] were in bad shape," Ms Coster said. "The lady in the back seat was unconscious, so our priority was getting her out. The driver of [the other car] did CPR. He was in shock."

Police had not formally named the 18-year-old, but friends and family were paying tribute to the girl, who was remembered as a "beautiful person" who would be "forever 18".

In posts on a tribute Facebook page set up yesterday, friends remembered the girl.

"Earth lost a beautiful person but heaven gained an amazing angel. Rest easy ... gone but never forgotten," one tribute said.

"Rest in peace beautiful forever 18," another mourner wrote.

"I love you ... I hate the fact that you're gone."

Another person travelling in the Laser is in a serious condition in hospital, while four others from the crash were treated for moderate injuries.

Police would not comment on whether speed or alcohol were factors in the crash, but confirmed both drivers were breath-tested.

Police were also investigating whether a petrol drive-off, which occurred earlier in North Dunedin, was linked to the car involved in the crash.

However, police remained silent on their inquiries..

"We still need to interview people to figure out exactly what happened," the police spokesman said.

He said the teenager's name would be released once all family were notified.

The crash was the fifth fatal accident in six days on New Zealand roads.

A logging truck and ute collided near Rotorua on State Highway 30 yesterday about 1.30pm, killing Kinleith man Blair Amundsen, 35.

Terry Henry Munday, 63, died in a car crash near Ashburton about 11pm on Friday and motorcyclist Shannon David Stewart died on Sunday in Christchurch when a van did a U-turn in front of him.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, 14-year-old Rangimaria White died in an alleged hit-and-run as she attempted to cross a residential Opotiki road.

- Otago Daily Times, NZME