By NATASHA HARRIS and NZPA
A 16-year-old girl was killed when a carload of teenagers plunged 50m down a bank into the Hunua Gorge, southeast of Auckland.
Five teenagers were in the car when the driver lost control before a slight bend about 10.20 on Saturday night. The vehicle hit an
embankment and crashed down the steep slope, striking rocks, to land beside the bottom of a waterfall.
The survivors, three female and one male, were taken to Middlemore Hospital with moderate injuries.
Fourteen firefighters from Papakura, Manukau and Hunua worked at the scene using ladders and ropes to carry the teenagers out.
The high-angle rescue team was called in case the teenagers had to be winched over the waterfall but it was not needed.
Papakura fireman Terry Glass said the teenagers were all wearing seatbelts. The 16-year-old was dead when firefighters got to the car.
"They [survivors] were very lucky as it's a real bad stretch of road - too narrow and too many curves.
"It would have been a rather scary ride for those six seconds."
Today orange paint marked the path the Honda four-door took when it lost control just in front of the slight bend at the top of the gorge. There were no barriers.
Residents nearby said many accidents had occurred in the area and lots of teenagers cars raced their cars through the gorge.
