A man has described a woman begging him for help following a major crash between a bus carrying school children and a car in Rotorua that has left one person dead.
Hato Hone St John sent 10 vehicles to attend the incident, which left 31 people injured, two critically, on Te Ngae Rd in Owhata at 9.15pm yesterday.
Police said the passenger in the car was killed, and the driver and a second passenger were critically injured.
Neighbour Ivan Clothier said it was a “sad situation” and said a woman inside the car that crashed begged him for help, but he was unable to get her out.
“The lady just said to me, ‘Help me, ’ so I just tried, but [she was] trapped in the car.
“She was pinned. You try and help them and you’ve got to stop the bleeding, but none of us had a lot of training.”
The bus was carrying children from Kaiti School in Gisborne following a kapa haka event. Three students who were taken to hospital have now been discharged.
“All students and kaiako are safe. Our hearts and aroha are with our team and their whānau,” Kati School principal Billie-Jean Potaka Ayton said.
Clothier said the children were stunned by the crash and were taken to a Burger King, then transferred to another bus.
“Yeah, it’s quite a sad situation, a lot of trauma.
“There wasn’t injuries to the kids... [but] they were definitely shaken.”
Several people in the area tried to help before the first responders arrived at the scene.
“We had a problem with the traffic moving around, so the bros had got a couple of 4x4s and we blocked the road off, so then it started to calm down a bit.
“It’s a very sad situation. It’s affected a few of us [neighbours]... It’s a horrible thing for the public to have to see.”
St John said one patient in a critical condition was airlifted to Waikato Hospital. Another patient was transported to Rotorua Hospital in a critical condition.
Three patients in a moderate condition were also transported to Rotorua Hospital.
“The bus was carrying passengers at the time, and fortunately, those on the bus only sustained minor injuries,” a police spokesperson said.
A further 26 patients in a “minor condition” were assessed and did not require transport, a St John spokesperson said.
Five ambulances, two helicopters, a rapid response unit, two operations managers, and a major incident support vehicle were sent to the scene.
Inquiries into the circumstances of the crash are under way, a police spokesperson said.
Another resident who was awake at the time said they heard a loud “thump” as the crash happened.
They went outside to find several people already gathered, many visibly distressed.
People were running up and down Te Ngae Rd in “panic”, they said, sensing the “hopelessness”.
A younger couple came on to their property with “tears rolling down” their faces.
They describe the scene as “full of emotion”.
Having lived in the area for about 30 years, they said there has been the odd crash before, but none as “compelling” as last night.
Other residents on Te Ngae Rd, who asked not to be named, heard a “bang” followed by what they described as sounding like a series of fireworks.
About two minutes later, they looked out the curtains and saw fire trucks rushing past their home.
They saw the bus was full of children, aged from what they thought were primary school children to older teens.
The younger children were “crying”, they said, with the older of the bunch trying to stay strong.
They said they saw another bus arrive to transport the children away from the scene.
Older children had to encourage younger ones to get on the bus, they said.
The residents said the roof of the car was removed, and the bus also looked to have noticeable damage.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.