Tourists injured in crash
A BUS engulfed in flames slid several metres down the road towards other vehicles near Omarama just before 4pm yesterday.
The fire was one of several incidents which kept southern emergency services busy yesterday. The blazing bus, used as a campervan, stopped just short of vehicles parked nearby.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) spokesman said only ‘‘a few people’’ were onboard and they were able to get off the bus in time.
The road was damaged and one person was treated for minor smoke inhalation. The bus was destroyed.
It was on the Omarama-Lindis Pass Rd (State Highway 8), 8km south of Dunstan Downs High Country Sheep Station.
The fire spread to nearby vegetation, and was extinguished by 6.10pm.
In another incident, a 79yearold Central Otago man died at the scene near Alexandra after his vehicle ran off the road.
The car of the man who died, a police spokesman said, appeared to have hit a tree in Galloway Rd, near the intersection of Fisher Lane. There were no other occupants in the vehicle.
The spokesman said it was thought the man died as a result of a medical event.
In Makarora, a threecar crash on State Highway 6, near the Haast Pass, left two German tourists injured and a New Zealander and two other tourists shaken.
The crash happened outside the Makarora Country Cafe about 1.30pm.
Acting Sergeant Detective Alan Lee, of Wanaka, said a tourist in one car, heading south towards Wanaka, had stopped on the highway, intending to turn into the cafe car park.
A white Suzuki Vitara, with a German male driver and German female passenger, hit the rear of the car and then crossed the centre line into the path of a Haastbound Mazda station wagon.
The Queenstown builder driving the Mazda told the Otago Daily Times all he could recall was a glimpse of the Suzuki sliding over his bonnet and roof.
He received a minor arm injury, but he and his uninjured French male hitchhiker passenger were shaken by the crash.
The Suzuki overturned and the two German occupants received head and leg injuries.
They were due to be taken by St John Ambulance to the Wanaka Lakes Health Centre.
A fire spread through a forestry block in the Catlins, firefighters being called at 8.30am to a 30ha forestry block between Waipapa Point and Haldane.
A Fenz spokesman said staff were still monitoring the site last night. About 15ha of the pine plantation had been burnt.
The Tokanui, Hedgehope, Waikawa Bay and Waimahaka brigades were all involved in fighting the fire and winds had made it tricky for firefighters to keep the flames contained.
Three helicopters from Te Anau were also used.
In Invercargill, firefighters battled a blaze at the Invercargill Golf Course.
Fenz spokesman Andrew Norris said two pumps and two tankers from Invercargill attended the fire, which involved an area 30m by 40m of scrub and mature trees.
Mr Norris said the club’s buildings were not in danger and the fire was extinguished about 4pm.
— Reporting by Pam Jones, Mark Price, Hamish MacLean, Logan Savory and Ben Waterworth.