Mate urged to hang on after train crash

Dairy farm worker Matt Bell urged his critically injured workmate to "hang on, bro" after racing to the scene of a fatal car-train accident he had watched from his rooftop.

The collision was at a rail crossing near Oringi, Dannevirke, on Saturday morning.

Mr Bell's fellow herd manager, Norm Wright, remains critically ill in Palmerston North Hospital's intensive care unit.

Mr Wright's partner, Amber Deliana Renee Terure, who was in her mid-20s, died in the accident.

Their 2-year-old daughter suffered a cut to her leg.

Mr Bell was on the roof of his house fixing a television aerial when the train horn alerted him to the impending collision.

"It was going nuts. It was tooting hard out.

"And then I heard the crash."

He raced to the rail crossing at the intersection of State Highway 2 and Old Main Rd, a couple of hundred metres from where both men live.

"When I got there, I knew his girlfriend was dead and his daughter had been taken into a four-wheel-drive to be looked after.

"He was choking on his blood.

"I just said, 'Hold on, bro. Hold on for your daughter'.

"I was just trying to talk to him."

That morning the two men had milked 530 cows.

Mr Wright had telephoned Mr Bell later to ask for his help to jump-start his car.

It is understood the family were returning home from a shopping trip to Dannevirke.

Detective Sergeant Grayson Joines said the car had just completed the right-hand turn into Old Main Rd when it was hit.

The driver of the train was uninjured.

- NZPA