Dramatic footage has emerged of the moment a car crashed into a power pole, toppling it and downing live wires in a shower of sparks.
The crash happened shortly before noon on Monday in Athenree northwest of Tauranga, at the State Highway 2 intersection with Tuapiro Rd.
Two people were injured.
Orchard House Cafe owner Josh van Loon said the incident happened metres from the business.
He described it as “a little bit crazy”.
He said he was speaking to a customer when the lights flickered and went out.
“We lost power in parts of the cafe,” van Loon said.
“Then I looked out and I could see the power lines shaking really badly.”
He realised it was probably a crash and ran outside, along with some of the cafe’s staff and customers.
“I could hear the crackling of the power lines,” van Loon said.
“They were arcing on the ground where they came down.”
Van Loon and the cafe’s chef ran around the kiwifruit patch to make their way to the car.
There, van Loon saw his dad was on the phone, having already dialled 111.
“There were puffs of smoke coming from the car, but I’m not sure if that was from the power lines burning the grass.”
Two people were in the car, a male driver and a child.
The driver initially appeared unconscious but as he came to, he got out of the car through the passenger side. The passenger stayed in the car until the power to the downed lines was shut off and rescuers could reach them.
Van Loon said emergency services arrived about five minutes after the crash, a fire truck coming first.
Later, he saw on his security camera footage that the car had drifted over the centre line and hit the pole on the other side of the road just off screen.
The power pole can be seen collapsing and hitting another pole amid bursts of bright sparks, stretching the lines low across the road.
Van Loon said the footage also showed a group of strangers rushing to the scene and working together to help.
“It’s quite cool. A the time I didn’t really see it.”
“We started talking to the other drivers on the road who had stopped, to make sure everybody realised the wires were still live.
He said some people immediately started setting up traffic diversions.
“People just took initiative to do that.”
He said they did not need to administer much in the way of first aid.
He said roadworks had slowed speeds in the area but it was lucky the crash happened during a lull of traffic.
“It could have been a very different story if [it] hadn’t.”
A St John Ambulance spokesperson said the service was notified of the crash at 11.39am.
“The crew assessed two patients — one in a moderate condition, one in a minor condition — and took them both to Thames Hospital by ambulance.”
A police spokesperson said staff responded to a one-vehicle crash on State Highway 2 about 11.45am.
Emergency services waited about 15 minutes for the power to be remotely shut off in the area so they could get to the car.
“The road was blocked for a time due to power lines being down.”
Police inquiries were ongoing.
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