Firefighters offered assistance after attending fatal crash that left seven dead
Thursday, 28 June 2018
Grant Hurley didn't get much sleep on Wednesday night.
The Pātea chief fire officer was with the first crew of firefighters to arrive at the scene of a fatal two-car crash north of Waverley, South Taranaki.
Six people were killed in the crash, four elderly residents from Waverley who had been in one car and an newborn baby and man from the other.
An 8-year-old girl died in Waikato Hospital on Thursday morning, after being flown to the emergency department by rescue helicopter on Wednesday. The girl's mother is in a critical condition in Wellington Hospital's intensive care unit.
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Hurley said the crash was one of the worst he'd ever attended and he hadn't been able to sleep much on Wednesday night.
'It's hard to get something like that out of your head,' Hurley said.
'It usually takes a couple of days for that sort of stuff to really hit you but we have counsellors and really great support.'
On Wednesday, Hurley said the crash scene had been a mess.
Both cars had been in the righthand lane.
'One vehicle, they were all deceased; there was a baby involved in the other car that was also deceased. One other person was out of the car; the first responders were working on that child, and there were two people trapped, the driver and passenger,' Hurley said on Wednesday.
Firefighters from Waverley, Pātea and Whanganui attended the crash and Fire and Emergency New Zealand Area Manager Dave Utumapu said the staff in attendance had been offered assistance.
'The people involved in yesterday's accident were exposed to a real tragedy so we're currently focused on providing support for each individual to ensure they they are OK.
'We want to make sure our people are taken care of.'