A family trip to Rainbow's End turned into tragedy when the van which six children, aged 1 to 14 years, and two adults were travelling in collided with a truck on the Brynderwyns.
Around 8.30am yesterday in poor visibility the van with eight on board crashed in to the rear of a Smith and Davies flat-bed truck and trailer carrying processed timber.
Four children were seriously injured in the crash and two adults and two children suffered moderate injuries. The driver of the truck was shaken but unharmed.
The Northern Electricity rescue helicopter landed on the notorious stretch of State Highway 1 at 9.20am to transport two boys, aged 12 and 14, with abdominal injuries and suspected spinal injuries, to Whangarei Hospital.
Three St John ambulances transported the other six patients to Whangarei Hospital.
After assessment at Whangarei Hospital three of the children were in serious but stable conditions and had to be rushed to Starship Hospital by two Northland Electricity rescue helicopters.
Helen Wolken travels over the Brynderwyns to Whangarei every morning and was second on the scene of the crash.
"Everyone was in complete disarray," she said.
"I saw the Mum and Dad out of the car, the Mum just grabbed the baby and was holding it.
"It took me a while to realise the boys were even in the back of the van."
She stayed at the scene comforting the injured until the boys were transferred to the helicopter.
"They told me they were heading to Rainbow's End, it's awful," she said.
Senior Constable Martin Geddes said the truck was travelling up a hill and the driver of the van did not see it for whatever reason, and drove in to the back of it.
He said there was no indication speed was a factor. There was heavy fog in the region yesterday morning, and Mr Geddes said poor visibility may have contributed to the crash.
St John acting district operations manager Wally Mitchell said both local teams were already responding to jobs, so two frontline crews from Whangarei attended.
Rural firefighters were at the scene assisting the St John ambulance teams and police.
Traffic was backed up for 1.5km either side of the accident scene until around 9.45am.