Truck topple kills woman

Thousands of road travellers were stranded for up to 10 hours at the foot of the Rimutaka Hill last night after a truck and trailer on the Wairarapa side earlier toppled over and crushed a car, killing a woman driver and seriously injuring her male passenger.
Wairarapa Ambulance Services operations manager Steve Crew said the 64-year-old Waikanae woman was killed in the lunchtime crash yesterday and the 54-year-old passenger from Titahi Bay was flown with serious chest injuries to Wellington Hospital, where he was early this morning listed in a stable condition.
The driver of the truck received minor injuries to his leg, Mr Crew said, which did not need medical attention.
Greytown and Featherston firefighters attended the crash and took about an hour to cut free the male passenger from the wreckage of the Mazda vehicle, Mr Crew said, even though the passenger seat was "the only unscathed part of the car".
A Featherston firefighter, one of the first to the scene, said a young male passenger aged about 10 was also in the truck and had walked uninjured from the crash.
Just before midnight last night about 40 police, Featherston fire crews, and truck company workers cleared both lanes of crash wreckage, spilt oil and diesel, and boxes of soap powder. The team had worked from about 7pm to clear the road after two Wellington mobile cranes had earlier taken about three hours to right the truck and trailer unit.
Masterton police constable Raymond Matthews said "hundreds and hundreds" of calls had been fielded from late afternoon at the Masterton Police Station from air show patrons asking if the SH2 road over the Rimutaka Hill was open.
Before the road was cleared the only route out of the region was via the Manawatu Gorge, which travellers were advised to take.
Wellington Highway Patrol Sergeant John Press said Serious Crash Unit investigators were at the site throughout the day.
Skid marks from the truck were clearly visible leading into the opposing lane away from a tight downhill corner, about three kilometres from the twin bridges at the foot of the Rimutaka Hill road.
Mr Press said the truck was travelling downhill when the tractor unit and both trailers toppled over onto the car as it travelled uphill.
"Everything went over toward the car but there's a one metre gap between the trailers. That's where the two people were sitting. The front and back of the car were completely crushed. If there'd been anyone sitting in the back seat they would have been killed outright."
Mr Press said several crashes on SH1 into Wellington had been reported from late afternoon yesterday that were probably due to the detour and increased flow of traffic on the enforced route to the capital.
Tom Williams, Trust House Wings Over Wairarapa air show organiser, said last night there had been announcements made at the show throughout the afternoon warning Wellington patrons of the crash and detour.
"There were 15,000 people through the gates on Saturday which we expected and another 10,000 today, which was over our target by about 3000. We warned people about the crash as soon as we were aware of the situation and it was their choice whether to detour or wait it out."
Dave Greenberg, Westpac Rescue Helicopter crewman and Life Flight Trust Wellington operations manager, said the air ambulance landed at the scene of the crash about 12.40pm.
"When we arrived the Wairarapa Ambulance Service and firefighters had just finished rescuing our patient from the car. Apparently the truck lost its brakes, rolling onto its side and on top of the car as it rounded a bend," Mr Greenberg said.
The helicopter that flew the injured man to Wellington Hospital was about to leave for the Hood Aerodrome air show at which they were to put on a display, he said, when the call came about the Rimutaka crash.
"We were just about to go to the Wairarapa anyway but it's just one of those things. We have to stay available at all times."