Cars 'ripped in half' and 10 injured in Mt Eden, Auckland crash

An 11-year-old girl and a 35-year-old woman are this morning in critical but stable conditions in two Auckland hospitals this morning, 14 hours after a horrific four-car crash in Mt Eden which injured 10 and left others "bawling in the street".

The girl is in Starship Hospital and the woman in Auckland City Hospital, an Auckland District Health Board spokeswoman said this morning.

A 43-year-old woman also hurt in the crash at the intersection of Dominion and Milton roads was in a stable condition in Auckland City Hospital, and a man initially taken to the hospital after the crash had been discharged.

Other injured people might have also been taken to the hospital following the crash, but had not stayed overnight, she said.

St John Ambulance shift supervisor Greg Scott told Newstalk ZB at the scene that they had treated 10 people: two each with critical, serious or moderate injuries, and four with minor injuries.

Some of the injured had wandered into the gathered crowd, Scott said.

"It was quite a big incident and unfortunately some of our patients that came out of the cars went into the crowd, so we only found them later on. They were walking and so they weren't serious, so we discharged them on scene."

The crash scene was a devastating sight. One car was so badly damaged the entire back half was obliterated.

A witness described a small car waiting at a stop sign at the intersection of Milton and Dominion roads.

"Another car, an older white car, came up very fast and smashed into the waiting car and pushed it out into the traffic. Both of those cars smashed into the cars on Dominion Rd.

"There was a terrible big blast, a smash, it's very sad."

Another witness at the scene said there were lots people hovering near the horrendous crash, some of whom were "bawling their eyes out".

"Three cars ripped apart are still in the middle of the road and another is parked on the side of the road," the witness said.

Scott said the incident was a big one.

"Anywhere in the country that would be [called] a major incident, and I'm only thankful that we do have a lot of ambulances to call on."

They had worked closely with Fire and Emergency as some those in the vehicles were trapped after the crash.

"They had to ... take the roof off a couple of vehicles in order to extricate them safely."

The message to drivers was the same it had always been: watch you speed, drive to the
conditions, keep a safe following distance, keep alert, don't use your mobile phone and look out for each other, he said.

A police spokeswoman said the Serious Crash Unit was investigating.