Two speeding cars, one dead teenager

The driver of this stolen car died near Waipukurau.

A 15-year-old girl has died after two teenage brothers were seen speeding in separate cars on a winding Northland road.

The girl, a passenger in one of the cars, died in a drain with her mouth forced into the dirt after she was thrown through the windscreen when the car crashed and rolled.

The young male driver was taken to hospital with head injuries.

The other brother was taken away by police.

One attempted rescuer told the Herald on Sunday all he could do for the girl was dig a hole in the bank beside her mouth to help her breathe.

Senior Constable Warren Dunn said speed was definitely a factor in the crash, which happened about 3pm on Ocean Beach Rd in Whangarei. He said alcohol was suspected to be involved.

The girl and the driver were both thrown through the windscreen and Dunn said "there was a high likelihood that they weren't wearing seatbelts".

It is understood that police were already heading to the area where the crash happened because locals had complained about the cars speeding and "hooning" in the popular weekend spot.

One local man said he heard the car rolling and ran to help the girl but there was nothing anyone could do to help her.

"She was just lying in the drain, her mouth was against the bank. We dug a little hole in the bank to help her breathe... The hearse came and picked her up."

The man, who did not want to be identified, said he saw a bottle of Bacardi among the wreckage that he helped tidy into the boot.

Julianne Newbold, who lives about 300m from the road, said she jumped up to look as a "red flash" sped past, moments before the crash.

"Being by the beach we often get boyracers but this was just phenomenally fast - it was just scary. It was absolutely hideous."

Rachael Wyatt, who lives nearby, said the driver was yelling in pain. "They were trying to make him stay still but he was staggering around... There was a girl holding her hands over her face, and she was crying."

In the Hawke's Bay yesterday, a man died when the stolen car he was driving crashed while being pursued by police near Waipukurau. The pursuit began after a police officer on his way home saw the car driving dangerously shortly before 3am.

Hastings police Sergeant Brent Greville said the chase lasted 5km and reached speeds of approximately 140km/h.

The car failed to take a bend and left the road, hitting a tree stump on the edge of a ditch and smashing into a fence.

The 19-year-old driver was thrown out of the car and killed instantly. The police patrol was about half a kilometre behind.

Deputy chief fire officer Owen Spotswood said he'd "never seen a car as mangled as this one". An investigation into the pursuit and crash is under way.

The vehicle, a Toyota Levin GT Apex, had earlier been reported stolen from the Foxton area.