Woman critically injured after cattle truck rolls

Photo / Thinkstock

A woman, critically injured when a cattle truck rolled and crushed a car north of Wellsford yesterday, is now in a serious but stable condition, a spokesman for Auckland City Hospital says.

The occupants of the car were extremely lucky not to have been killed immediately when the truck tipped on a bend on State Highway 1, between Mill Rd and Oruawharo Rd, about 4pm, photographer Bradley Ambrose said.

From what he could see, the only thing that saved them was that the car was positioned in the gap between the truck and trailer.

"In my view and experience, if they were centimetres forwards or backwards they would have been killed."

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Police said one person was airlifted to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition and another person sustained minor injuries.

The truck driver was uninjured, police said.

Ambrose said he heard a gunshot and saw at least four cows dead on the road with wounds to their heads. Other cows were led away from the scene.

It appeared from the position of the vehicles that the truck had been heading south towards Auckland and the car had been travelling in the opposite direction, he said.

Police are investigating.