Recovery after ‘carnage’ crash near Kaiko¯ura
Eleven people are on the mend after being injured in a ‘‘messy’’ three-car collision south of Kaiko¯ura.
Emergency services were called about the crash on State Highway 1 about 4.45pm on Thursday. It happened in Oaro, about 3 kilometres south of Goose Bay.
Helicopters took five seriouslyinjured patients to Christchurch and Wellington hospitals. The remaining six were treated for minor injuries at the scene.
A Canterbury District Health Board spokeswoman said a female patient was in a ‘‘stable condition’’ on Friday morning. Another seriously-injured woman was comfortable and likely to be discharged soon, she said.
The patient flown to Wellington Hospital was stable and recovering in a ward, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Details on the other two patients were unavailable.
A Christchurch truck driver, who asked not to be named, said the stretch of highway was still ‘‘fairly messy’’ on Friday morning, with bits of suspension littering the roadside and car wheels discarded on the grass.
The crash happened just behind him as he neared heavy roadworks in the area, but the spot where it happened was ‘‘certainly not a bad bit of road’’.
He said dangerous driving was a daily occurrence between Christchurch and Picton, especially by people in rental vehicles, campervans and ‘‘flash cars’’.
Kaiko¯ura fire chief Ian Walker earlier said there was ‘‘carnage everywhere’’ when he and personnel from two Fire and Emergency trucks arrived at the scene.
‘‘We had to remove the side out of one car and use the jaws and spreaders to free a lady. We put her on a backboard and straight into the ambulance. There were multiple injuries and there was multiple stress amongst everyone.’’
Police were unable to comment on what caused the crash. The police serious crash unit is investigating. 7.30am) to the Nelson Hospital emergency department and 434 at Wairau Hospital. Abdominal pain, viral illness, gastroenteritis and chest pain were among the most common presentations during that period at both EDs.
Extra shifts for nursing staff were added to deal with the influx in presentations. An overnight report from the ED in January detailed the sort of events staff were dealing with.
‘‘On [the] Saturday night shift there were five very drunk presentations, verbal abuse, with two drunk men attempting to fight each other despite both having significant injuries. Security was required to be stationed in the department.’’
A junior nurse described an incident where five intoxicated patients were admitted after a motor vehicle accident. One patient ripped off her monitoring equipment and threw it on the ground.
Bramley said individuals needed to make sure they drank responsibly, but family and friends needed to support that too. ‘‘Unfortunately we are just far too accepting as a community of behaviours that are harmful.’’