The engine of a car has vanished in bizarre circumstances after the vehicle and a logging truck collided on the Kaimais at the weekend.
The driver of the Toyota Landcruiser emerged with only minor injuries after the accident beside Ngamuwahine bridge on State Highway 29 on Saturday.
Sergeant Chris Summerville, of Tauranga police, said the driver, a Matamata man, was walking around when emergency services arrived at the crash scene just after 4am.
"No one was badly hurt but they could not find the engine," he said.
The impact of the crash sheared the Landcruiser's engine completely off the bell housing and rubber engine mountings. But instead of staying with the wreckage, the engine was nowhere to be found.
Searchers failed to find the engine and believe it had catapulted out with such force that it ended up in the river.
"Our best guess is that it's in the river."
The engine bay appeared to have taken the full force of the impact, with the driver and passenger compartment still intact.
The Toyota's driver complained of a sore chest and was taken by ambulance through to Tauranga Hospital, where police say he was also tested for drink driving.
"It was very lucky not to be a fatal accident."
The man was heading home when the accident happened. There was no other occupant in the 4x4 and the driver of the truck was uninjured.
Meanwhile, four women were taken to Tauranga Hospital following a crash on the passing lane leading up to the roundabout at Bethlehem on Saturday afternoon at 3.20pm. Two of the women, aged 66 and 59, suffered moderate head and neck injuries, while a 32-year-old and a 46-year-old suffered minor injuries. A spokesperson from Tauranga St John Ambulance said the women were from Kawerau.
Engine missing after accident
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