A man lay trapped, screaming for help in the crushed wreck of his car after it and a bus collided on a popular tourist route. Minutes later, the car burst into flames, with the man still inside.
Police say no one could be pulled from the car, and aside from the man pleading for help, they have no idea how many others were in the vehicle after the collision on the Te Anau-Milford Highway in Southland.
Photos from the scene show the car was overturned and completely crushed by the bus. The bus door was wedged shut and the 16 passengers, all believed to be from Korea, were helped out of a window.
Later photos show plumes of thick black smoke billowing into the sky, with both the bus and car completely engulfed in flames. Miraculously, all the bus passengers, the driver and tour guide appear to have escaped out a window before the fire.
Invercargill's Jakob Frazer, 17, arrived on the scene with a colleague moments after the accident happened. He said he saw an arm coming out of the passenger door, and a man was screaming for help.