A quick-thinking hero who pulled a driver from a fiery crash which claimed the lives of two people, including a baby, said the man stank of alcohol and didn't know what day it was.
Josh Skinner, 21, will have scarred arms for life after pulling the trapped driver from the
vehicle, which was engulfed in flames.
But he said his injuries paled against the two lives lost in the three-car crash near his hometown, Kawerau, on Saturday evening.
Arriving minutes after the accident while on a trip for groceries, the sickness beneficiary didn't hesitate when he saw the flaming wreck of a Holden Commodore upside down beside State Highway 34.
"I checked one car, which had a baby in it ... and that's when I heard screaming coming from the car on fire. It was already completely engulfed in flames," said Mr Skinner.
He sprinted across the highway to drag the driver, who was trapped in his seat, through the broken car window.
"But my arm got caught on the pillar of the window on the way out. It was stuck, melted, because of the heat, so I had to tear it away."
He said the driver "stank of alcohol".
"I could smell the alcohol on his breath ... The whole car reeked."
He said the driver seemed concussed. "I asked him what day it was and he said Thursday. After a while, he was unresponsive."
As well as burning his hands, Mr Skinner has permanently damaged nerves in his right wrist, and will require skin grafts.
But he said that despite his injuries, he would do the same thing again.
"You never know, one day someone might have to do the same for me."
His partner, Sharleen Peapell, said that without his intervention the driver would have died. "It took seconds, just seconds, for the car to go up. The ambulance wasn't there for five more minutes, and the fire engines took a bit longer."
Daily Post journalist Greg Taipari, a trained ambulance officer who came upon the crash, helped treat one of the injured and said the site looked like a bomb scene.
The 22-year-old driver was taken to Waikato Hospital with critical injuries, including badly burned legs. He is now stable.
Another occupant of the vehicle, Fraser Douglas Nathan, 23, was killed instantly. A third passenger was flung 50m from the wreck and was critically injured.
Police said the Holden Commodore the three men were in struck a four-wheel-drive vehicle from behind "at considerable speed" while overtaking.
The Holden veered across the middle lane, clipping an oncoming car while airborne. It then slid upside down into a power pole, before catching alight 35m further on.
Blood-test results will confirm next week whether the driver of the Holden had been drinking, but police said speed and alcohol were suspected factors.
Six-month-old Kalaisha Matangireia Princess Hale, who was in the four-wheel-drive, died on Sunday after being airlifted to the Starship hospital. She was buried this week at Waiohau Marae, south of Kawerau.
Her parents, Katerina, 21, and Ricky, 27, were seriously injured when their car rolled, and are recovering in Tauranga Hospital.
A makeshift memorial is now at the crash site. Among trees and car parts scorched by the fire, friends and family members have placed flowers, clothing, and flax weavings.
Easter 2010 holiday road toll (4pm Thursday - 6am Tuesday)
View Easter 2010 holiday road toll in a larger map
