Car crash girls in hospital after mercy flight from Kiribati

By GREGG WYCHERLEY

Two girls seriously injured in a car accident are in Auckland's Starship hospital after a mercy flight from a remote Pacific island.

Morita Bell, a Whangarei schoolgirl, and her friend Kate Adlam, a Kiribati resident, both aged 10, were badly hurt when the car they were in crashed into a coconut palm on Kiribati.

The driver Jeremy Adlam, a British teacher working at a local school, and his daughter Alice, 13, were killed in the crash on Saturday.

Kiribati police said yesterday the group was travelling to a carnival in the village of Ambo when their saloon car left the road and slammed into a large Gasolina tree.

The police spokesman said alcohol was thought to have been involved, but the investigation was continuing.

The road was sealed and regarded as a good one for Kiribati.

The two dead were sitting in the front of the car, while the surviving girls were in the back.

"They were very lucky that they were in the back seat," the police officer said.

Morita's father, Rodger Bell, said his daughter lost an eye and suffered a broken leg and a broken arm in the accident.

He said Kate Adlam was more seriously injured and there were concerns for her life.

An Air Force Orion flew to Kiribati yesterday so the girls could receive specialist medical attention not available in the tiny Pacific country.

Mr Bell praised the efforts of the Kiribati doctors, but said they lacked the services the girls needed.

"They did their best but the island's medical facilities are very basic," he said.

"They were very badly bashed up. There was a genuine reason for bringing them back here for treatment.

He said Morita and her 15-year-old brother Hayden were on an annual summer holiday visiting their mother who lives in Kiribati.

Mr Bell said Morita was popular and outgoing, and a good student at Whangarei primary school.

Air Force spokeswoman Karen Hill said the Orion, with a specialist medical team on board, left Whenuapai Airbase about midnight for the seven-hour flight to the island group's capital atoll of Tarawa.

The return flight took eight hours because of the condition of the injured girls and they were rushed to hospital on arrival at 6.45 last night.

A spokeswoman for Starship children's hospital said last night that Morita had been admitted to the intensive care unit, and was in a serious but stable condition.

She said Kate Adlam was also in the intensive care unit, in a critical condition.