One dead after day of fiery collisions

Two officers were injured in the crash that demolished their police car. Photo / Richard Robinson

Two police officers were last night in hospital after their patrol car and a truck collided in one of several serious incidents on North Island roads yesterday that left one person dead.

A policewoman was injured when a patrol car was written off in the collision south of Auckland, but she may be sent home from hospital today.

She was taken to Middlemore Hospital with what were initially thought to be serious injuries following the crash near Pukekohe yesterday afternoon.

The police officer driving the car was treated for facial injuries and discharged, while the policewoman had to be cut from the vehicle.

Police said her injuries may not have been as bad as first feared and she was likely to go home today.

No other passengers were in the patrol car.

Police northern communications acting inspector Danny Meade said the driver of the truck was uninjured, but was taken to hospital for checks.

Mr Meade said it was not yet known how the accident happened, or whether the officers - both from the Counties Manukau station - were going to a job.

A resident on the street said he heard a loud "bang".

"It was pretty bad. The police car wasn't going to be driving out of there. It was totally written off."

Another neighbour, Linton Stuart, said the stretch of road where the accident happened had a dangerous curve which had claimed at least two lives.

"The accident looked like it could have been on the overtaking road. We've had two accidents there - one involving a child - and about three years ago two people were killed one evening," Mr Stuart said.

"It has an unfortunate right-hand bend which levels out and the visibility is not clear. It's quite dangerous."

A man was killed in another collision on State Highway 4, 30km north of Taumarunui, just before 3pm.

He died when the car in which he was a front-seat passenger and a van collided.

The driver of the car was airlifted by the Westpac Waikato air ambulance to Waikato Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The van driver was treated for moderate chest injuries.

In West Auckland, the occupants of a car were forced to flee when the vehicle exploded on the Greenhithe Bridge yesterday.

The explosion sent a plume of thick, black smoke over Whenuapai, and the road was closed as a fire crew tended to the burning vehicle. The cause of the fire was not known last night.

North Shore resident Caroline Wade took pictures while driving past the scene.

"There were a lot of booms, bangs and pops, and then I saw a few of the construction workers run over."

The car occupants are understood to have been unhurt.

- Additional reporting: NZPA