News of an English medical student's lifesaving heroism after a serious motorcycle accident near Paihia has reached her hometown newspapers. Police say Dutch-born rider Marcel Latupeirissa was passing a truck on State Highway 11 when he was in collision with an oncoming car about 5.30pm on December 15. The impact tore offhis right leg and he risked bleeding to death but for an extraordinary stroke of luck. The first vehicle on the scene was a campervan with four young tourists from Garstang in England, including 23-year-old student paramedic Genna Haines. Miss Haines used a karate belt from a child in the car involved in the crash to tie the stump and stem the bleeding, checked for any other injuries, and kept him comfortable until the ambulance arrived. The Lancashire Evening Post quoted Miss Haines' mother as saying it was the third time she had saved a life. Katrina Haines, 50, a nurse at Royal Preston Hospital, said her daughter had also resuscitated a man during a 16km run in Blackpool and helped medics after another motorcycle crash on an English motorway six months earlier. Mr Latupeirissa, who is recovering in Whangerei Hospital, has hailed Miss Haines as a hero and an "angel" who saved his life.
Miss Haines is due home tomorrow. The story has also been reported in The Garstang Courier.
