"Hearing the children crying was quite disturbing," she said.
Jones said a police officer told her the vehicle was carrying children from a special needs facility. The officer also believed the driver suffered a heart attack.
It was a fairly common spot for crashes, she said, despite it being a fairly straight stretch of road.
The road was now closed off and police were examining the scene.
Jones said the typically busy road was "eerily quiet".
An Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter flew to the scene and took one of the teenage female patients to Middlemore hospital. A Rescue Helicopter spokesperson said the patient had multiple injuries.
The four other patients were taken to hospital by ambulance.
Westpac Rescue Helicopter attending intensive care paramedic Russell Clarke said a people mover had gone into a ditch, through a fence and into a paddock and was lying on its side.
"There were multiple patients and local fire and ambulance services were dealing with them.
"The person we transported was the rear-seat passenger."
He said most injuries were moderate to minor, and all patients were fairly stable.
He confirmed a couple of the patients were special needs children.
Inspector Shawn Rutene said bystanders helped pull people from the wreckage of the van after it rolled.
"Police are very grateful to several members of the pubic who were first on the scene and managed to pull children from the wreckage," he said.
Waiuku Rd was closed earlier between Bald Hill Rd and Tramway Rd and diversions were in place. A police spokesman said then that the road would be blocked until about 11.30am while officers work to establish how the crash occurred.
