A person has died, and two are critically injured as 31 people were hurt in a crash between a bus and a car in a Rotorua suburb.<\/p>\n
The person who died was a passenger in the car, while its driver and a second person were critically injured.<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency said the people were trapped in the car, and they had to use rescue gear to get them out of the vehicle.<\/p>\n
One of the critically injured people was flown to Waikato Hospital, while the other was taken to Rotorua hospital by ambulance.<\/p>\n
The bus involved in Thursday night’s crash was carrying tamariki from a Gisborne school.<\/p>\n
Kaiti School in Gisborne says its students were on the bus, and three were taken to hospital, but have been discharged.<\/p>\n
They were staying in Rotorua while competing at Te Mana Kuratahi, a kapa haka competition in Tauranga.<\/p>\n
“Following yesterday’s absolutely impressive stand at Te Mana Kuratahi, Puhi Kaiti Kapa were involved in a bus vs car collision in Rotorua on their way to their accomodation from dinner last night,” tumuaki Billie-Jean Potaka Ayton wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n
“Three students were admitted to hospital and have now been discharged. All students and kaiako are safe. Our hearts and aroha are with our team and their whanau.”<\/p>\n
St John says it sent five ambulances and two helicopters to the scene on Te Ngae Road in semi-rural \u014cwhata about 9.15pm on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The bus was carrying passengers who suffered minor injuries, police said.<\/p>\n
A person living near the scene told RNZ he’d never heard anything like it.<\/p>\n
He described the crash as “nasty”.<\/p>\n
The car and bus had been removed from the scene by Friday morning.<\/p>\n
All that remained was a smattering of broken glass and sawdust leftover from soaking up engine oil.<\/p>\n
Rotorua M\u0101ori ward councillor Trevor Maxwell said it was a busy road with a lot of roadworks between \u014cwhata and the airport.<\/p>\n