Critically ill patient dies after ambulance crash

The ambulance collided with a power pole.

A critically ill patient on his way to hospital died in the back of the ambulance after it crashed into a power pole on State Highway 1 in Northland.

It is not known if the crash was a contributing factor in the patient's death and police say that will be determined as part of their fatal crash investigations. The death has been referred to the coroner.

The ambulance with three St John staff and a patient onboard crashed into a power pole in the main street of Moerewa between Nisbet St and George St about 6.38am yesterday. The man had been collected from a Moerewa home and was being taken to Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa when the ambulance hit the pole on the same side of the road it was travelling on.

Beryl Vaughan witnessed the ambulance crash.

A staff member in the back of the ambulance is believed to have suffered a broken arm. The driver and third officer were not injured. The ambulance trio was flown to Whangarei Hospital in the Northland Electricity rescue helicopter but the man died at the scene. It brings the region's road toll to 13 compared to nine for the same period last year.

Northland police area prevention manager Senior Sergeant Chris McLellan said they had completed initial investigations and were yesterday working with the family of the dead man and the staff from St John to ensure appropriate support was provided. "Ambulance staff go out every day to save lives and it's very unfortunate that in this case that there's been a crash."

Northland St John manager Tony Devanney said the St John officers were all devastated and distressed following the crash. He said the crash would be treated like any other public crash with police investigating and an internal St John investigation being held.

"We really feel for the family," said Mr Devanney, who was scheduled to meet the man's wife yesterday.

An eyewitness said two other ambulances were on the scene shortly after the smash. The front left-hand side of the ambulance was crushed after hitting the pole which was being supported by a crane on the back of a TopEnergy flat deck truck.

Moerewa resident Beryl Vaughan was baking a cake when she saw the crash on the corner of her section, only about 10 metres from her lounge. "I noticed the flickering lights and looked outside and saw two ambulances. One smashed into the power pole and everything went black. The power went out straight away."

Ms Vaughan said the following ambulance stopped and a short time later a third arrived. She noticed three fire appliances and at least five police vehicles, followed by a helicopter.

Another resident Anthony Dunn said he was woken by the helicopter hovering over his house. "I didn't hear the crash but when I went out I saw why the helicopter was there. The ambulance had smashed into a pole."

Police had diversions in place so the helicopter landed on State Highway 1. While the power was out the owners of Moerewa's Four Square were using candles in the aisles to help shoppers and they were selling necessities such as milk and bread to the locals and taking cash only, as the till and eftpos machine were not operating. About 500 homes were without power but 291 were back online by 11.30am and the rest by 1.15pm.

Kawakawa chief fire officer Wayne Martin said two crews were sent to the Moerewa crash but five minutes later there was a call for help to another crash on State Highway 1 near Maromaku, where a car was upside down with smoke coming from the bonnet.

By the time the fire crew arrived three people had managed to free themselves. The driver was taken by police for breath testing.