Student badly hurt in crash

A 16-year-old Wairarapa UCOL student is in a critical condition in Wellington Hospital after she was thrown from a car that rolled near Masterton on Thursday.

The teenager was an unrestrained passenger in the car that rolled on State Highway 2 on the southern approach to the Opaki overbridge north of Masterton shortly after 3pm on Thursday, according to Nick Bohm, Wellington district communications manager.

Julian Burn, Lifeflight Trust Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew member, said the rescue chopper landed at the nearby Opaki Racecourse and was on site for more than half an hour.

Mr Burn said the teen was flown to Wellington Hospital emergency department with life-threatening injuries. It is understood she had received serious head and spinal injuries.

A hospital spokesman said yesterday the teenager was in a critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Mr Bohm said the 19 year-old driver of the car, who is also a Wairarapa UCOL student, received minor injuries.

She was taken by ambulance to Wairarapa Hospital but had been since discharged, he said.

The stretch of highway where the crash occurred had been blocked to traffic for about four hours on Thursday while a serious crash unit team examined the crash scene.