Parents of crash survivor send wishes to victims' families

The victims of the crash on Gordonton Rd had to be cut from their car. Photo / Christine Cornege

The parents of a critically injured teenager who was the only survivor of a crash near Hamilton that killed three of his friends say their thoughts and prayers are with the victims' families.

High school friends Liam Jackson, 18, Alan Jones, 18, and Ashley Foley, 19, were killed when their Nissan Sentra left the road and hit a eucalyptus tree while travelling home to South Auckland about 5am last Friday.

Survivor 19-year-old Jaryd Doughty was taken to Waikato Hospital where he remains in a critical condition in intensive care, unaware his friends are dead.

The hospital issued a statement on his parents' behalf in which they said their thoughts and prayers were with the families of the boys who died.

They thanked emergency services at the scene and medical staff at Waikato Hospital's emergency department, theatre and intensive care unit.

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman has said the boys had spent the night in Hamilton and were travelling back to Auckland for work.

He said there was a strong smell of alcohol and several alcohol containers in the car, however the cause of the accident has not been determined.

Jackson's uncle Arthur Keane said the boys were not "drunken louts" but good hard-working boys who loved life.

He said Jackson's parents were too distraught to talk to media.

"There is going to be a huge hole in three families and we hope it's not going to be four."

A joint service to farewell the dead teenagers will be held at Rosehill College in Papakura, Auckland, on Thursday.