Teenage girl killed in flipped car

Photo / APN

A group of young people waited on the side of the road with their dead friend after a car flipped upside down when it crashed in a drain early yesterday.

Police last night named Tymeka Paige Wheeler as the 16-year-old girl killed when the car in which she was a passenger left a straight piece of road near Hunterville, 55km from Wanganui.

The crash happened at 12.30am, four hours after another person was killed when two trucks collided on State Highway 2 near Takapau, in Hawkes Bay. No further details have been made public.

When Wanganui emergency services arrived they found the car upside down in a drain, Hunterville chief fire officer Shane Voelkerling said.

Five people and the dead girl were outside the wreckage, but it wasn't clear if Tymeka was thrown from the car or pulled out by the others.

Mr Voelkerling said the survivors appeared to be in shock.

"There wasn't a lot of talking going on."

Police are investigating the cause of the crash. It was not raining at the time but bad weather further south meant the SquareTrust rescue helicopter could not fly to the scene.

The injured were taken to Wanganui and Palmerston North Hospitals by ambulance.

Mr Voelkerling said the occupants appeared to be aged in their late teens to early 20s.

An 18-year-old man was discharged from Wanganui Hospital yesterday, and three others were discharged from Palmerston North Hospital. One person remains there in a stable condition.