A Rotorua truck driver is lucky to be alive after his truck collided with two vehicles and then crashed down a 5m bank into Lake Rotoiti.
The 50-year-old driver walked away with only scratches and bruises, police say.
Senior constable Sam Barrett said the truck was travelling westtowards Rotorua about 8.30am yesterday when the crash happened, just east of Emery Store in Rotoiti, before Gisborne Point.
The truck collided with a trailer that was being towed by a utility and then a van travelling behind it, ripping off the right- hand side rear door of the van before continuing on and ending up in a shallow part of the lake.
The drivers of the truck and van received minor injuries and were taken to Rotorua Hospital where they were treated and discharged.
Nobody in the utility was injured.
Gisborne Point resident Peter Carr- Smith said he was entertaining his two grandchildren when he heard the crash and then looked up to see the truck resting in the water.
"I'm really surprised no one has been seriously hurt. We hear lots of bangs but this one was really loud," he said.
Rotorua bricklayer Ron Kingsland, who was driving the utility and was heading to Kawerau for a job at the time, said he was in shock after the crash.
His worker, Michael Fredrickson said he couldn't believe they had survived the crash without injury.
"It just ripped the trailer apart. It could have been a lot worse," he said.
The road was reduced to one lane until the truck was pulled out of the lake about midday.
Environment Bay of Plenty's spill response team contained hydraulic fluid which seeped from the truck's engine with a 20m hydro-carbon boom. Material in the boom absorbs and contains any petrol or chemicals in the water, stopping it from spreading.
