Quad bike plunges teen girl over cliff

A teenage girl whose quad bike plunged 70 metres down a bank is in a stable condition after suffering serious injuries.

Emergency services responded to the crash on Zohs Rd in Mangaweka, near Taihape, at 3.50pm on Wednesday.

A fire spokeswoman said the 13-year-old fell about 60-70m over a cliff after losing control of a quad bike.

Emergency services were able to reach the girl and began assisting before the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter winched her out.

A helicopter spokeswoman said the girl was found with the help of a personal locator beacon.

She was taken to Whanganui Hospital with injuries to her chest, back and pelvis. A hospital duty nurse said the girl was in a stable condition on Thursday.

Fire teams from Whanganui, Mangaweka and Taihape attended the incident, along with St John and police. Emergency services then helped to extract the initial rescue team.

ACC advises children not to ride adult-sized quad bikes or sit as a passenger on a quad bike meant for one person.

Children who died from quad bike accidents mostly died from head injuries, and over half of injuries children suffered were broken bones.

Statistics from Worksafe New Zealand show four people have been killed and 38 injured in quad bike incidents up to November 31 this year.

The number of deaths spiked in 2012 when seven incidents were recorded. This year, at least five people have been injured on quad bikes.

Waikato has had the most incidents, with 94 recorded injuries since 2009 and 11 deaths. But the number of people injured has decreased significantly, with four so far this year, compared to 14 in 2016.