Five die as van blazes after highway crash

Photo / NZ Herald

Five people are dead and three children were fighting for their lives last night after a fiery highway crash.

Four of those killed were in a van which burst into flames in the collision north of Taupo.

The crash happened after the driver of one of the two vehicles involved lost control on a bend in State Highway 1.

Two boys, aged 9 and 3, were dragged through the windows of the flaming van by an off-duty policeman.

They were taken to Rotorua Hospital, where the 9-year-old was having surgery last night.

Another person was killed in the second vehicle, but an 11-year-old girl was pulled from the wreckage and airlifted to Waikato Hospital.

The off-duty policeman was taken to Taupo Hospital for treatment to burns on his arms.

The crash was the worst on New Zealand roads in four years.

St John ambulance area manager Graham Harvey said it rated "up there" as one of the worst he had seen.

"Any road traffic crash which involves serious injuries and fatalities is not nice. Especially once you start getting multiple fatalities, it makes it very hard to deal with."

The accident happened shortly before 4pm.

When Mr Harvey arrived, a car was in the middle of the road, surrounded by debris. The van was down a bank, still burning.

He said members of the public, especially the off-duty officer, were instrumental in preventing further deaths.

"There were bystanders all over helping with the passengers. It's just the Kiwi way, isn't it? They did bloody well."

The van crashed down the bank and through a fence near the end of sheep-farmer Geoff Bamber's driveway.

"I had just arrived home a minute earlier and picked up my mail on the way up the drive," he said. "As soon as I got out of the car I heard a massive boom, boom and a kid screaming."

Mr Bamber ran back down his drive with a fire extinguisher, ready to turn it on to the fireball enveloping the van. But he was stopped by the off-duty policeman who had rescued the two children.

"He told me to stay back, stay back, that it was too late for them," Mr Bamber said. "It was really in flames by the time I got there.

"It was just terrible - it was just a big ball of flame, you couldn't even see what sort of vehicle it was."

The two boys were flown by rescue helicopter to Rotorua Hospital. The 3-year-old has a serious head injury, and the 9-year-old severe stomach injuries.

Traffic was diverted around the crash scene, and the highway closed for five hours.

Meanwhile, a female Chinese student was killed yesterday in a two-car crash north of Taihape.

Another passenger in the car was airlifted to Palmerston North Hospital.

The driver of the second vehicle was taken transported to hospital by ambulance.

And last night in Nelson, a 73-year-old man died after his car and another collided in Atawhai Cres.

The deaths take this year's road toll to 122. At the same last year, it was 114.

- James Ihaka