One dead, one lucky to be alive

The driver of this car died at the scene after the vehicle left the road during a failed overtaking manoeuvre. Photo / Christine Cornege

One motorist is dead and a man is lucky to be alive after two cars collided on a rural Waikato road, sending one vehicle somersaulting through the air and leaving the other impaled by fence posts.

Te Awamutu man Nathan Callander was just 400 metres from his parents' Ngahinapouri fertiliser farm when a person driving a white sedan tried to overtake his ute just before 8am yesterday.

His mother, Robyn, said her son told her that the two vehicles then collided, with the sedan striking loose gravel before flying off a bank and several metres into the air.

The car, which is registered to a Te Awamutu woman, then somersaulted over a creek before landing on its roof.

At the same time, Mr Callander's ute was sent ploughing through a fence into the creek, where it came to rest submerged on its side.

Mrs Callander said her son, who had suffered lacerations to his arms and his head but was otherwise okay, was lucky to be alive.

Another witness, who asked not to be named, said she thought the fence posts that he had driven through had impaled his vehicle's floor.

"It was very, very close," said Mrs Callander. "The guys who pulled his car out of the creek said he's lucky to be alive.

"He was submerged for a while in the creek, which is actually quite deep. He had to unbuckle himself and climb out the passenger side."

Mr Callander then made his way back to the road where he started yelling out for help. Neighbours arrived shortly after to tend to both Mr Callander and the driver of the sedan, who was trapped.

Emergency services arrived but the person died at the scene.

Waikato police communications manager Andrew McAlley said the police serious crash unit was investigating.