A 58-year-old woman suffered critical injuries after being hit by a runaway trailer while walking along the Taupo lakefront around 8am today.
Taupo police said a truck towing the trailer, which was loaded with timber, was travelling south along Lake Terrace when the trailer detached. It careered across the road slamming into the pedestrian, who was walking on the lakeside footpath, before running down a bank and into the lake.
Passers-by raised the alarm and rushed to the aid of the injured woman who was taken to Taupo Hospital with critical injuries.
A local man who witnessed the accident said he was a short distance away when he saw the trailer break away from the truck.
"If I had been 20m up the road the trailer would have gone straight through me," he said.