By Tony Wall
Kassel Omeri, miraculously unscathed after a crash that left his friends lying broken and bloodied on a busy motorway, set about tending to the injured.
The 18-year-old Samoan Assembly of God member, who was not wearing a seat belt, was asleep in the back of a van when the vehicle careered across the Southern Motorway near Ramarama.
It was the latest in a series of road tragedies which have left 37 people dead in the first 18 days of a grim New Year on the nation's roads.
Yesterday evening a woman was killed when two cars collided south of Russell.
In the Ramarama crash, driver Maria Iosua, aged 40, lost control of the van when a rear tyre blew out about 5.30 pm on Saturday.
Only her 13-year-old son, Ronald Pili, was wearing a seat belt and he was not injured.
Mrs Iosua was last night in a critical condition in Auckland Hospital. Brothers John and Jerome Mika, aged 20 and 23, were in stable conditions in Middlemore Hospital and their aunt, Sina Mika, was in a serious but stable condition.
The church group had spent the day picking onions near Hunua to raise money for friends in Samoa. Mr Omeri was dozing and was woken by the "pop" of the tyre as it blew out.
"We took a sharp right and then we started rolling," he said. "We ended up on the southern side of the motorway and one by one I saw bodies fly out of the van."
When the van finally came to rest on its roof, Mr Omeri was able to clamber out a window. He had only a small cut to his hand.
"The first thing I saw was legs poking out from underneath the van ... it was John Mika ... I tried to lift up the van but I couldn't get him out at the same time, so two other members of the public came and helped."
Mr Omeri said Mr Mika kept calling for his brother Jerome as he lay trapped.
While his helpers pulled the van up off the ground, Mr Omeri dragged his friend to safety. He then set about tending to the other injured.
"Maria was lying in lane one, she was breathing, blood was coming from her mouth. I tried talking to her but there was no response. I kept going back and forth between them all ..."
Family of the survivors spent most of yesterday praying for their recovery.
Mr Omeri said he was travelling home from Middlemore Hospital when he was almost involved in another smash - the car he was in skidded about 40m when avoiding an accident near the harbour bridge.
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