The school van crash on Kereru Rd, Maraekakaho, Hastings District. Photo / Jack Riddell
The school van crash on Kereru Rd, Maraekakaho, Hastings District. Photo / Jack Riddell
A school van has slid off a rural road in Hawke’s Bay, with one person taken to hospital in a serious condition.
Police were told of the single-vehicle crash on Kereru Rd, between Mangatahi Rd and Dasent Rd in Maraekakaho, at 7.45am on Monday.
One child was in the vanwith the driver when the crash happened.
A police spokesperson said the bus slid on black ice and went off the road into a shelter belt of trees.
Police notified Hastings District Council of black ice on the road and asked the council to organise signage to warn motorists of slippery/icy roads in the area.
A Hato Hone St John spokesperson said their crews assessed two people at the scene and transported the driver to Hawke’s Bay Hospital in a serious condition.
Kereru School Principal Kelsie Allen told RNZ she was on the scene straight after the accident, and said the road was incredibly icy.
“We’re just glad they are okay. Even just walking on the road it was really slippery under foot,” she said.
A Tranzit Coachlines spokesperson, who operate the school van, said the driver had travelled the route for several years, and the Tranzit team is doing everything it can to support the driver and passenger.
The school bus crash on Kereru Rd, Maraekakaho, Hastings District. Photo / Jack Riddell
MetService meteorologist Alwyn Bakker said the air temperature for the area on Monday morning was sitting around 0C.
Bakker said there would have been “decent amounts” of ice in sheltered places around the district on Monday morning.
“Air surface can get extremely cold overnight compared to the air temperature, so it can form ice if conditions are a bit damp and that can be very hazardous, which unfortunately, it sounds like it has been,” he said.
- An earlier version of this story said the van had rolled. Police later clarified it did not roll after initially stating it did.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier.
