Schoolboy dragged under bus for 15m

The 8-year-old hit the windscreen and was pulled under the wheels. Photo / Greg Bowker

An 8-year-old boy is in a serious condition in hospital after he was pulled under the wheels of a bus in West Auckland and dragged for 15m.

The youngster ran across Swanson Rd with his head turned away from the bus just after 3pm.

Dozens of people saw him hit the windscreen and go under the bus.

He was taken to Middlemore Hospital in Otahuhu.

Raven Leaso was inside her mother's hair salon when it happened.

"His legs went underneath the bus and his arm got fully scraped to the bone and you couldn't see any skin," said the 14-year-old.

The teenager said the boy, a pupil at nearby Swanson Primary School, was walking past the row of shops with two other youngsters - believed to be his sister and another relative - when he darted out on to the road.

She said that help came from all directions.

"Everyone ran out of the butchery, the liquor store, all the people from the chemist ... all these kids came from school and all these mothers, the kids were crying."

Raven said the boy's visibly upset sister ran over asking to use the salon's phone, so she called an ambulance for her.

A spokeswoman for the Go West bus line said the company was "extremely concerned" by the accident and was working with the police to establish exactly what happened.

"Such accidents are rare but clearly one such accident is one too many," the woman said.

A staff member at Calverts Butchery said the boy was "conscious and screaming" after he was struck.

"It hit him and he must have bounced off the front and he went under it and then they hit the brakes and it caught his arm in front of the wheel and dragged his arm along the road," the man said.

He said the boy's mother arrived and was in tears.

Swanson Primary's acting principal, Craig Holt, said the boy had been at the school since he was aged 5.

The youngster normally caught the train home, and Mr Holt believed he was at the shops with his sister and a cousin.

"As far as I know he normally catches the train, which is just down the road. I think he was just waiting with his older sister and cousin at the shops, just waiting for somebody else to walk down the road to the train station."

Mr Holt said children witnessed the accident and the school was focused on making sure help was available for them and anyone else who needed it.

Swanson Primary teacher Deanna Uttler said the accident was proof the stretch of road needed to be made a 40km/h zone.

"The board of trustees has been pushing for it and we want it now. My eldest does road patrol. I'm a teacher there and it scares the crap out of me."

* Two hours later, 2km further down Swanson Rd, a 5-year-old was hit by a car in his driveway.

Police believe the child was struck by a relative who was learning to drive and had mistakenly jammed a foot on the accelerator.

"It appears a family member has been having a driving lesson and stuck a foot on the accelerator and run up into the fence," said Senior Constable Gary Abbott. "The kid was standing on the driveway."

He said the boy was taken to the Starship hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.