Loaded campervan collides with truck, several injured

Photo / File

At least one person has sustained serious injuries after a loaded campervan and a small truck collided in the Tasman region.

Emergency services were called to the crash on State Highway 6 - the Four Rivers Highway - just west of Murchison at 8.30pm last night.

Six people, believed to be from Argentina, were in the campervan. Two people were in the truck.

Police said "some sustained serious injuries".

The Nelson Marlborough Rescue helicopter made two trips to the incident, flying four patients in total to Nelson Hospital.

A spokesperson from the helicopter said in a statement fire crews cut the driver of the truck from his vehicle, before he was flown to hospital.

"He had suffered multi-trauma injuries and fractured legs. He was treated enroute by an intensive care paramedic and delivered to waiting medical teams at Nelson hospital."

After dropping off the driver of the truck, the helicopter was refuelled but unable to return to Murchison due to fog.

"This required the ambulance service to head towards Nelson until a suitable landing site was found," the spokesperson said.

The ambulance vehicles met up with the helicopter on a roadside layby, where the passenger from the truck and a traveller sitting at the front of the campervan were loaded onto stretchers.

They had suffered leg and other trauma injuries, the spokesperson said.

A third patient with minor injuries was able to be seated in the helicopter.

All three were then flown to Nelson Hospital for further treatment.

Police are currently investigating the collision.