Rescuers' efforts fail to save trapped pair

The two passengers who died were trapped when the car landed in the drain. Photo / Christine Cornege.

A horror head-on collision near Karapiro yesterday afternoon left two people dead in a car which was crushed against a bank.

Four others were injured in the crash on State Highway 29 just after 4pm. One with critical injuries and two seriously hurt were airlifted to Waikato Hospital.

The collision occurred at the end of resident Brian Wood's driveway.

"We heard this big bang and then this massive cloud of dust. It was pretty massive, so we ran down there."

Mr Wood and wife Joan found a number of people trapped in the cars and wreckage strewn across the road. "Everyone was still alive at that point. It was pretty gruesome."

Two of the four occupants in one car were trapped on the passengers' side. It is understood they were returning from a netball game in Hamilton.

"There were people trying to help them, but they were completely trapped in a drain. They were not in a good way at all." They died soon after.

Mr Wood went to get his tractor so he could clear the road of debris.

"There was nothing I would have been able to do, but I saw that the traffic was building up so I went to get my tractor to clear the debris to help out."

The Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance and the Rotorua-based Bay Trust helicopter flew the injured to hospital. "It looks like it was a reasonable high-speed impact; there was a lot of damage to both cars," said Westpac pilot Steve Oliver. "There was a car which had impacted a bank on the left-hand side of the vehicle ... It looked like it had spun around due to the impact."

Traffic was diverted while the wreckage was cleared.

Horse-racing identity Bridgette O'Sullivan, who lives nearby, said she was outside playing tennis when the crash happened but she did not hear it.

"The first we knew something had happened was when the helicopters arrived and we could see flashing lights. It's just awful. You just feel sick for the families."