'Absolutely horrific': Seven killed in South Island van crash had been to funeral
Sunday, 19 June 2022
A van load of people were on their way home after attending a funeral when seven of them were killed in a crash – one of New Zealand’s deadliest.
The van was en route to the Cook Strait ferry when it crossed the centreline and collided with a refrigerated goods truck on State Highway 1 between Blenheim and Picton about 7.30am on Sunday.
There were two loud bangs as the vehicles smashed into one another, a resident reported. Passers-by rushed to help the injured.
Seven of the nine people in the mangled wreck of the van, including a baby and the driver, died. There were several teenagers in the vehicle. It’s unclear how many of them were among the dead.
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Most of the victims are thought to have been from the same family. Their names are yet to be released.
The survivors were flown to Wellington Hospital with serious injuries. On Monday, Capital & Coast District Health board said one patient was in a serious condition in intensive care, while the other was in a ward in a stable condition.
The driver of the refrigerated goods truck, which was owned by Big Chill Distribution, suffered minor injuries and had been discharged from hospital by Sunday evening. A friend described him as the “nicest, most humble man in the world”.
The people in the van travelled from the upper North Island to Gore* late last week and attended a funeral. They were on their way home when the crash happened. The refrigerated truck was en route to Christchurch with a load of goods.
State Highway 1 between Picton and Blenheim was closed until late on Sunday while police tried to piece together what had happened. The road has re-opened, but a temporary 50kph speed limit is in place.
Debris was strewn across the road while the truck had to be pulled from a ditch where it had come to rest on its side.
It’s unclear what caused the van to cross the centreline.
The crash happened on the same bend where Picton man Gary Kenny died in a head-on collision with a truck in March 2020.
Acting Tasman district commander Inspector Paul Borrell described Sunday’s scene as “absolute carnage”.
“In a blink of an eye, seven lives are gone,” Borrell told media outside Blenheim police station on Sunday afternoon.
“A crash of this scale has a huge impact on both the community where it happens, that of the deceased’s family and community, and on emergency services who attend.”
Picton Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Wayne Wytenburg said the scene was “absolutely horrific”.
“I’m lost for words to describe what our emergency services had to deal with,” Wytenburg said on Sunday morning.
Big Chill Distribution chief executive Michael Roberts said the company was “devastated” about the crash.
“We are and will continue to work with our contractors and the police to assist while they carry out the investigation. Our immediate focus at this stage is providing assistance and ongoing support to the driver.”
The crash is the deadliest in New Zealand since eight people were killed in a crash near Taupō in April 2019.
It’s the worst in the South Island in more than two decades.
In June 2000, six members of one family died when their van collided with a meat truck on State Highway 1 at Wairuna in South Otago.
In August last year, five teenage boys – Javarney Wayne Drummond, 15, Andrew George Goodger, 15, Niko William Hill, 15, Joseff Alan James McCarthy, 16, and Jack Graeme Wallace, 16 – were killed in a crash near Timaru. In April, Tyreese Stuart Fleming pleaded guilty in the High Court to five charges of dangerous driving causing death. He will be sentenced on June 29.
New Zealand’s worst crash was in Northland in February, 1963, when a bus carrying 35 passengers home from seeing the Queen at Waitangi crashed over a 30-metre slope, killing 15 people. A brake failure caused the bus to careen down a cliff off the Brynderwyn hills.
Sunday’s tragedy brings the national road toll to 184 so far this year – 27 more than at the same time last year.
* Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the funeral was in Dunedin (Amended at 11.32am, June 20, 2022).