Toddler critical after crash leaves five injured

The family was returning home after a tangi when the crash happened.

A 3-year-old girl who suffered critical injuries in a Bay of Plenty road crash on Saturday has been transferred to Starship Hospital.

Police said two adults, a teenage boy and two girls, aged 1 and 3, were injured when a car left State Highway 2 near the Opotiki bridge and crashed into a tree on Saturday afternoon.

The girls, both from Hamilton, were flown in separate rescue helicopters to Waikato Hospital.

The 1-year-old was stable in a ward yesterday while the 3-year-old had been transferred to Auckland's Starship Hospital, Waikato District Health Board communications director Mary Anne Gill said.

The adults, who were returning from a tangi, were transferred from Whakatane to Waikato Hospital last night.

Ms Gill said a 70-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman, both from Hamilton, were in serious but stable conditions in the hospital's high dependency unit.

A 14-year-old was treated at Whakatane Hospital and discharged yesterday.

A rescue services member said the driver of the crashed vehicle might have suffered a seizure and collapsed at the wheel.

The police serious crash unit is investigating.