KEY POINTS:
An Otago University student was killed when a car crashed down a steep 70m bank near Wanaka yesterday in one of the worst snowstorms to hit Otago for years.
English tourist Mark Davy scrambled down through dense bush to help the injured survivors of the crash near Camp
Creek, about 30km west of Wanaka.
The student was killed as the car carrying her and three other women plunged from State Highway 6 into the icy waters of Lake Wanaka near Makarora in the snowstorm.
Mr Davy, 21, and Rowan Morson, 24, stopped their rental van to help the survivors from their crashed car.
"We were the second on the scene and saw the cars parked up, so I went down to try to help the girls out of their car," Mr Davy said.
The pair comforted the women, who had suffered abdominal, neck, and back injuries, in the back of their campervan, wrapping them in extra clothes and sleeping bags.
"They were very cold, weak and in a lot of pain," Ms Morson said.
Upper Clutha Transport driver Nathan Brensell, 18, raised the alarm and emergency services arrived 30 minutes later. The survivors were driven through the snow to Dunstan Hospital by ambulance.
Detective Steven Hutt, of Queenstown, said the crash victim was a 20-year-old Chinese-born woman of Malaysian extraction.
Her companions, aged 22, 23 and 24, were also international students at Otago, Mr Hutt said.
Police were still trying to contact the dead woman's next of kin.
"Our first concern was getting them [the survivors] warm and treated after their ordeal," Mr Hutt said.
As the snow wrought havoc on Otago roads yesterday, stranding vehicles and closing schools, the icy weather was heading north. Late last night, residents in the North Island's east coast, from Napier to Masterton, were bracing for severe winds, with gusts up to 130km/h.
MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt said those winds would ease today.
"The main mucky, yucky day will be the shortest day [today], so it won't last long. Much of the North Island and the west coast of the South Island will be showery this weekend, with a pervading southwesterly."
Mr McDavitt said overall it would be slightly colder than usual for this time of year.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES, STAFF REPORTER