KEY POINTS:
They were 15 years old, not meant to be in the car, and not wearing seatbelts.
Today, police are piecing together the details of the accident that killed one teenager and left devastated families and friends in West Auckland.
Police believe speed, driver inexperience and not wearing a
seatbelt contributed to the death of a 15-year-old girl near Muriwai Beach, northwest of the city.
The girl, who has not yet been publicly identified, was a front-seat passenger in a 4WD-vehicle which rolled on Coast Rd about 9.45pm on Sunday.
Police said they believed the three 15-year-old girls who survived were also not wearing seatbelts. They also said there was nothing to suggest alcohol was involved.
The injured girls were taken to North Shore Hospital, where at least one remains this morning.
The car failed to take a right-hand bend on an unsealed road in a 50km/h zone.
Speaking at North Shore Hospital last night, the father of the girl believed to have been driving told of how, when his daughter awoke yesterday, he told her that one of her friends had died.
"I had to tell her this morning - she had no idea. She was just devastated."
The man, who did not want himself or his daughter named, said he believed his daughter had been driving her car when it crashed, but he was not yet certain.
She had moderate injuries and had been sedated since the crash.
The family had not yet spoken to police to find out what happened.
"We don't know a hell of a lot ourselves at the moment ... I don't know the full story."
He said his daughter had a restricted licence and had been told countless times not to take passengers in her car.
The father said the families involved were "devastated".
Massey High principal Bruce Ritchie said the school and the families were in mourning.
"It's just an absolute tragedy. A young 15-year-old girl has lost her life."
A meeting was held last night to plan the school's response to the tragedy.
Mr Ritchie said the school marae had been set aside as an area for students to grieve and counsellors had been called in for those needing assistance.
One of the first on the scene, Glen Houghton, a member of the St John's First Response Unit at Muriwai, said he arrived to find a two-door 4WD Suzuki upside down wedged against a power pole.
Three "pretty upset" girls with minor injuries were out of the vehicle and a fourth girl was trapped underneath, he said.
"I don't know how many times it had rolled. It had rolled a few times.
"It was on top of her, so I'm assuming she was thrown out and it rolled on top of her."
During the next hour firefighters from Muriwai, Kumeu and Huapai placed air bags under the upside-down vehicle and inflated them to lift the vehicle off the girl.
Mr Houghton said he treated one girl, who he believed had been driving the car.
"She was pretty upset. She had some minor injuries ... blood coming from a few places around her head."
Acting Sergeant Colin Nuttall, of the Waitemata police district serious crash unit, said speed, driver inexperience and not wearing seatbelts were factors being investigated.