Eight injured in crash after Otago road becomes ‘an ice skating rink’

Ice has made Otago roads dangerous. Photo / NZME

Eight people were hurt in a head-on crash on an inland Otago highway as slippery as an “an ice skating rink” at the weekend.

A man and a woman associated with a Central Otago women’s rugby team were flown to hospital by helicopter after the crash between a van and a ute on the Manuka Gorge Highway between Milton and Lawrence on Saturday.

Police said two people suffered serious injuries, two had moderate injuries and four had minor injuries.

A manager for the Central Otago Does said on Facebook yesterday the team was returning from a match in Dunedin.

Most of the 10 players, supporters and managers in the van escaped serious injury because of the driver’s quick reactions and the fact everyone was wearing seatbelts.

The woman who bore the brunt of the impact of the crash and the driver were airlifted to Dunedin Hospital, she said.

The woman suffered “quite serious injuries, but we are optimistic that with her strong will and gritty determination she will come out okay.

“Luckily we were going quite slow through the gorge, as we could see and feel how slippery the roads were.

“But we cannot state this enough, once we fell out of the van, the roads were an ice skating rink.”

Fire and Emergency New Zealand reported the crash happened just before 4pm and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said the highway was closed near Round Hill Rd from 4.05pm.

Two Fenz crews were sent from Milton and one each from Waitahuna and Lawrence, a spokesman said.

One person had to be freed from the van, he said.

By 6.50pm on Saturday, State Highway 8 was closed between Johnstone Rd, south of Waitahuna, and SH1, near Milton, and by 8.30pm the police serious crash unit was at the site investigating, Waka Kotahi said.

The crash happened about 30 minutes after another on the Manuka Gorge Highway, when a car went into a ditch near Falla Burn Rd about 3.30pm. One person suffered minor injuries, a police spokesman said.

Police yesterday could not confirm the number of crashes in the southern region due to ice, but a spokesman said police responded to multiple weather-related incidents over the weekend, “including crashes where weather conditions may have been a factor”.

He urged people to drive to the conditions and watch their following distances.