State Highway 1 reopens at Piarere after serious crash in Waikato

State Highway 1 has reopened following a two-vehicle crash that left five people seriously injured between Cambridge and Tirau this morning.

Emergency services were alerted to the crash about 5.30am.

Three people suffered serious injuries and two people were critically injured, police said.

The road was closed for several hours and reopened about 11.30am.

A witness on the scene moments after the crash, who would not be named, said both vehicles looked badly damaged.

“They were both pretty banged up, I could see the crash was still really fresh when we arrived, it had only just happened.”

The woman said she saw emergency services moving back and forth working to extract people from the vehicles.

“I saw the two cars facing towards each other and people still in them,” she said.