More witnesses to fatal motorway crash needed

One person was killed in a three-car pileup in central Auckland last night. Photo / Richard Robinson

Auckland police want to hear from anyone who may have seen vehicles being driven erratically before a three-car pileup on the central motorway junction last night, leaving a man dead and three others injured, a child among them.

The crash was on the southbound lanes of the motorway near the Khyber Pass on-ramp about 8.50pm, Inspector Matt Rogers of northern police communications said.

One man, believed to be in his 50s, died at the scene, a 12-year-old child was taken to Starship Hospital. An adult with serious injuries and another with moderate injuries were taken to Auckland Hospital.

Acting Sergeant Colin Nuttall of the serious crash unit told NZPA the scene examination was completed last night, but police were still keen to speak to anyone who saw the vehicles on the motorway before the crash.

"We had half a dozen witnesses at the scene last night and all had seen different stages of what's occurred. Nobody has yet come forward to give us details of the driving leading up to it. We only have details of the impacts.

"We had a number of vehicles stopped but we're always keen for other motorists to come forward. Vehicles continued to travel through after the crash so they may have potentially seen something, and chosen not to remain at the scene for whatever reason.

"We'd like to hear from anyone who saw these vehicles on the road before the incident. It may be they were following one of the cars, and we'd be interested to know if someone was driving all over the road, or changing in and out of lanes, those sorts of things," Mr Nuttall said.

He said speed and alcohol were always factors under investigation at any road crash.

"There's nothing in it at this time which stands out as an obvious factor which caused the crash.

"In any crash, even if we don't suspect it, we will always look at speed and alcohol. Then we start broadening our horizons from there," he said.

Considerable delays were caused to southbound motorists as the motorway was reduced to one lane. All lanes reopened before 1am.

- NZPA