Emergency services are working to free a trapped truck driver after he plunged 10 metres over a bank on the Napier to Taupō highway. Photo / Mike Scott
Emergency services are working to free a trapped truck driver after he plunged 10 metres over a bank on the Napier to Taupō highway. Photo / Mike Scott
A motorist has described a horror crash scene after a truck plunged off a steep bank, leaving a person seriously injured and trapped.
Police and firefighters are scrambling to free the driver of the large truck after it crashed about 9.30am off the Napier to Taupō highway at Te Haroto.
A motorist who came across the scene just after the crash said it was a tragedy for the truck driver and their family.
"It's always awful to see someone who started a day and had it finished in such an abrupt and tragic way.
"They and their family would never have thought that this is how Saturday would pan out."
The witness said the large commercial truck plunged down a steep 10-metre bank leaving the driver pinned in the cab.
A rescue helicopter awaits the extrication of a trapped driver to transport him to hospital after a serious crash at Te Haroto between Napier and Taupō. Photo / Mike Scott
He said the driver had been trapped for about 30 minutes before emergency services arrived, but he had been immediately attended to by an off-duty ambulance officer.
"There was a really heavy and icy rain starting to fall just as rescue workers turned up. And it looked like he'd slid on the wet road as he came around the corner and crossed the line and went over the bank."
