Serious injuries as truck traps man on Napier-Taupo highway

A man has improved in Hawke’s Bay Hospital and is now in a serious condition, after being rescued from beneath a truck on State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupō on Friday night.

The incident was reported just south of Te Haroto and about 50km northwest of Napier at 8.49pm, with motorists reporting heavy fog in the area at the time.

Crews from the Bay View Volunteer Fire Brigade and from Napier fire station went to the scene along with ambulance and police staff and a section of the highway was closed between Glengarry and Waipunga for at least an hour to enable a rescue to take place.

The man was taken to the hospital Hastings in a critical condition by St John Ambulance. Media staff said a rescue helicopter was called but did not land.

The man was in a serious condition as at Sunday morning.

Highway closure planned for later this week

The highway between Napier and Taupo has several sections subject to traffic control at the sites of slips, washouts and other damage caused in Cyclone Gabrielle in February.

Nationwide highways management agency Waka Kotahi NZTA has announced a night-time, six-hours, midweek closure of SH5 between Hedgeley Rd, Eskdale and Caroline Dr, near Taupō, to enable urgent repairs to the surface at a temporary bypass built around a dropout near Eskdale.

The road will be closed to all-but emergency service and bona fide residents from 9pm on Wednesday to 3am on Thursday.

The Esk Slip bypass was built to help reopen SH5 after it had been closed for five weeks following the Cyclone.

* An earlier version of this article contained a photo taken in March of the original Esk Slip. A temporary bypass has since been built around the dropout. While repairs are needed to the bypass, the photo of the slip in its original form was misleading for readers. The use of the photo is regretted.