Fog smash brings toll to 8
Tourists’ car flies over barrier as second car explodes in flames in deadly Waikato crash
Arental car flew through a safety barrier and landed in a ditch killing three people and seriously injuring two others in a horrific crash which caused a second vehicle to burst into flames, killing its only occupant.
The quadruple fatality on SH2 in Netherton in the Eastern Waikato about 7.40pm on Saturday night was one of four accidents at the weekend that killed eight people and boosted the road toll for the year to 174.
The people whose car went into the ditch are understood to be French nationals and a source told the Herald they were travelling in a rental car.
A Waikato Hospital spokesperson said the two survivors, both men in their 30s, were in a serious but stable condition on Sunday night.
The horror weekend kicked off when a Gisborne woman died after she was hit by a car on Cobden St.
Then about 1am on Saturday a twocar crash on Dairy Flat Highway claimed the lives of Ricky Barker, 18, and Andre Ahman, 20.
A man in his 20s who was travelling in the second vehicle was also seriously injured in the crash.
A woman died in a crash in the Far North at 12.30pm on Saturday on SH10 at Kaingaroa, north of Kaitaia when the vehicle went off the road and flipped on to its roof. Two children in the same car were injured.
Waikato road policing manager Inspector Marcus Lynam said the serious crash unit was still investigating the accident near Netherton, but initial indications were that one vehicle ended in a ditch and the other caught fire after the impact.
Lynam said it was a “terrible and tragic time for the families”.
Fire Eastern Waikato area commander Aaron Waterreus described it as a “high speed crash in very foggy conditions”.
“The impact of the accident sort of threw the other vehicle across the safety barrier and down into a ditch and that was the vehicle where the three people were killed,” he said.
“The other car was up on the road and well involved in fire when our crews arrived.” He said the person in that car, a BMW, had been trapped.
The driver of the car in the ditch was one of two who survived the crash and had to be helped out.
Firefighters from Ngatea had been called into assist the Paeroa brigade because it was a “nasty accident with multiple entrapments”.
Waterreus said attending any road accident was unpleasant and one where fire was involved made it even worse. “We probably had about 25 people [the majority volunteers from Paeroa and Ngatea] who would have touched that scene one way or another last night.”
National manager road policing superintendent Steve Greally said seven road deaths (the eighth was a pedestrian struck in Gisborne) in the past 24 hours was “pretty bloody horrific”.
“It’s absolutely tragic that we’ve lot so many people, especially in the last 24 hours — it is almost unheard of in this country.
“Speaking generally I know there have been foggy conditions up north for the last couple of days and in foggy conditions we have to be extra vigilant to make sure that we watch our speed — particularly our speed.”
A spokesperson for the French Embassy in Wellington said there was no comment at this time when asked if the embassy was assisting police.