Devastating weekend on Taupo roads

CAR VERSUS HOUSE

Residents of a house in Taupo got a shock awakening when a car hit the back of their house early on Saturday morning.

At about 3.40am, a car crashed down a bank on Rickit Street and hit the rear of a house on Riverbank Road.

The person who rang emergency services reported that the occupants of the car abandoned the vehicle and ran.

The loud bang of the car as it hit the house woke neighbours several houses away.

By the time the residents arrived, the occupants of the car had left.

There were skid marks on Rickit Street and the grass verge was torn up, marking where the car came off the road.

The gorse bush on the bank behind the house has been crushed by the car.

The car was still upside down on Sunday, where it landed behind the house, but plans were underway to extract it.

TAUPO MAN KILLED

The driver of a car involved in a crash with a 20-seater bus near Taupo on Thursday has died.

He was 31-year-old Derick Johann Anderson, from Taupo. He died of his injuries on Saturday.

He was the driver of a car that collided with a bus at the intersection of SH1 and SH30 at Atiamuri about 4.20pm on Friday.

Senior Sergeant Fane Troy, of the Taupo Area Road Policing Group, said it was a sad reminder to be vigilant and take care on NZ’s roads.

The Serious Crash Unit continues to investigate the cause of the crash. One person has been killed and four others injured in a two-car crash in the Napier to Taupo highway.

The crash happened on State Highway 5, near Te Haroto, at about 4.20pm on Sunday.

Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter confirmed it airlifted a critically-injured woman in her 40s to Hawke’s Bay Hospital about 5pm.

Another person with critical injuries and two people with moderate injuries were taken to hospital by road ambulance.

Police were working to notify the families of those involved, however their identities were yet to be publicly released.

State Highway 5 was closed for several hours after the crash.