Burglars hit police car
A police car was smashed into early yesterday as a car of fleeing young people, linked to a crime spree, exited an Auckland motorway. Police said the incident started with a spate of aggravated burglaries, which spanned Auckland’s south and western suburbs from midnight on Monday. Service stations in Ormiston, Te Atatu and Auckland Airport, were burgled by offenders from two vehicles between midnight and 3am, said Detective Inspector Faa Va’aelua, Counties Manukau field crime manager. One of the vehicles involved was then spotted by officers in Western Springs, he said. The police helicopter monitored the vehicle, which was driven on the wrong side of the motorway on several occasions. It collided with a police patrol vehicle as it exited an on-ramp in Mangere. The offenders fled the vehicle but were subsequently captured by police, said Va’aelua. A 21-year-old man was to appear in the Manukau District Court yesterday, while two teenagers, a 16-year-old youth and 14-year-old girl, were to appear in the Manukau Youth Court.
Waterfall victim named
The man who disappeared underwater at Tauranga’s Omanawa Falls was a master’s student at Waikato University, Indian media has reported. Indian Newslink named the man as Kishore Kumar Aravindan, 27. Aravindan had been swimming and taking photos with friends at the waterfall on Sunday when he failed to resurface. Two other men were able to walk out from the waterfall but a woman with them needed help from emergency services. The police national dive squad retrieved Aravindan’s body on Monday.
Overdue tourist walks out
A woman has walked out of a beech forest near Arrowtown after a search and rescue effort failed to find her on Monday night. Senior Sergeant Paula Enoka said the visiting Chinese woman emerged ‘‘fine’’ after an unscheduled night on the Big Hill Trail. A friend contacted police when he did not hear from her by 8.30pm on Monday. The woman had planned to be on the track for about five hours. A police helicopter, ground crew and Land Search and Rescue volunteers searched unsuccessfully until 4am yesterday and had planned to restart the search at 9am. However, the 53-year-old walked out from the track at 8.15am.
Fatal head-on crash
One person died and three people, including a child, were gravely injured after a serious head-on crash in Auckland. Emergency services rushed to the scene where twovehicles collided on Central Park Drive, Henderson, about 11pm on Monday. One person died at the scene, and a child was rushed to Starship Children’s Hospital with lifethreatening injuries, said Inspector Duncan Hall. Another two people were rushed to Auckland Hospital with serious injuries, said a St John Ambulance spokeswoman.