Fire engines used to pull crumpled car apart at horror head-on crash

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Updated: 7:36am – A car in a fatal head-on crash crumpled so badly fire engines were used to stretch it back out lengthwise before emergency workers could properly reach a trapped woman.

One driver died at the scene, on State Highway 2 just north of Dannevirke, in Southern Hawke’s Bay, after the crash about 6.30am on Thursday.

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The trapped woman, the driver of the other car, was conscious and was cared for by St John Ambulance staff while firefighters rigged the cables, Dannevirke fire chief Peter Sinclair said.

“It’s the worst [crash] we’ve had in recent times. She was heavily trapped just because of the impact, so it took some time to get her out – we worked on her for about an hour.

“We had to take the roof off and then attach the back of the car to something solid and attach the other end to a fire truck and use cable and crank it up slowly. That pulled everything apart far enough for people to pull her out.”

The woman, thought to be from Palmerston North, was flown to Palmerston North Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

A hospital spokesman said a woman in her 20s was admitted and in a critical condition and a man in his 20s was admitted in a serious condition.

A woman in her 60s was treated and discharged.

After the police serious crash unit examined the scene, firefighters came back in to cut the person who had died free from the other car.

Ambulance officers were first on the scene and fire crews arrived soon after. It was immediately clear the crash was bad, Sinclair said.

“The cars ended up about 50 metres apart on each side of the road.

“Everything like that’s always hard on the crew. It’s something we’ve got to deal with.”

The crews from Dannevirke, Norsewood and Woodville stations, and St John officers met together at the end of the day at the Dannevirke fire station to debrief, talk it through, and look out for each other, he said.

Fire and Emergency NZ will provide ongoing support, and Sinclair will also check in with his fire fighters over coming weeks to make sure they’re okay.

“The mental side of it, while you can’t really prepare for it – it’s just something that comes with what we do. And someone’s got to do it at the end of the day,” he said.

 – Stuff

Featured image: State Highway 2 was blocked north of Dannevirke on Thursday morning, after a fatal crash. DAVID UNWIN/STUFF

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