Traffic backed up through Kawakawa for more than two hours yesterday while a crashed truck was lifted out of a swamp.
The accident occurred during Thursday's wet weather when an northbound Toll truck and trailer left State Highway 1 about 1.5km south of Kawakawa, careered down a bank and came to rest in trees and mud.
There were no injuries and damage to the truck appeared minor but extricating it was a major operation.
The recovery operation was further complicated by another crash around noon a short distance from the crashed truck. Initial reports were that the female driver suffered a medical event, causing her vehicle to leave the road but that could not be confirmed at edition time yesterday.
A St John ambulance responding from Kawakawa had difficulty getting through the lines of traffic on the narrow section of highway through Kawakawa Gorge, with one of the medics having to get out at one stage and motorists trying to manoeuvre out of the way.
The woman's condition was not thought to be serious.
