Woman critically injured after car rolls on top of her

An Auckland man has been charged with dangerous driving after this crash near Opua, one of several over the weekend in the Mid North. PHOTO / SUPPLIED

A Northland woman was critically injured when she was thrown from a car which then rolled on her.

The two female occupants were flung out as the vehicle rolled about 2.50am on Saturday on Otiria Rd, near Moerewa.

It came to rest on the verge on top of a Kaikohe woman in her late 30s, inflicting serious internal injuries. Kawakawa Fire Brigade members and fellow volunteers from Kaikohe used airbags then spreading equipment to raise the car and pull the woman out.

She was flown to Whangarei Hospital, initially in a critical condition, by the Northland Electricity Rescue Helicopter. The other woman was taken to Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa with moderate injuries, fire chief Wayne Martin said.

Police were investigating the cause of the crash and whether the pair were wearing seatbelts.

Meanwhile, a driver involved in another single-vehicle crash earlier that night has been charged. Senior Sergeant Peter Robinson, of Kerikeri, said the car failed to take a corner, skidded and rolled into a swamp about 1.30am on Saturday.

No one was seriously injured but the driver, 20, from Auckland, faces a charge of dangerous driving. He will appear in the Kaikohe District Court on April 21.

Firefighters from Paihia and Kawakawa, along with police and St John, attended the crash.

A day earlier, about 4.40pm on Friday, two people were taken to hospital when a contractor's ute and a station wagon collided on SH12, about 3km east of Kaikohe.

It is understood the contractors were packing up a roadworks site at the time.