Rescue helicopter sent to three-vehicle crash in Canterbury
Thursday, 21 May 2020
Three people have been injured, including one seriously, in a three-vehicle crash in rural Canterbury.
Emergency services were sent to the crash at the intersection of Main South Rd (State Highway 1) and Breadings Rd, just north of Rakaia, about 2.10pm on Thursday.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Andrew Norris said early reports suggested two cars had collided, and one of the cars had been shunted into a nearby truck.
Four crews from Rakaia and Dunsandel were sent to the scene.
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No-one was reportedly trapped in the crash and crews were helping with traffic control, Norris said.
St John spokesman Gerard Campbell said one person was seriously injured and had been flown to Christchurch Hospital.
Two other people, one with moderate injuries and one with minor, had been taken to hospital by road ambulance.
The road was initially closed, with diversions in place, but reopened just before 5pm.
The area where Thursday's crash happened is known to locals as Bankside corner and has been the scene of several serious crashes in the past.
Australian couple Joan, 56, and Fox McCrossin, 58, were killed when their rental car veered into the path of an oncoming TNL Freighting truck just hours after they landed in the country in November last year.
Two tourists driving a Jucy rental campervan were killed at the corner in 2017 when they crossed the centre-line and collided head-on with a ute. Driver inattention and fatigue were possible factors in the crash.
According to NZ Transport Agency data, there have been 47 crashes on the stretch of Main South Rd between Parkins and Breadings roads since January 2000. Eight of those crashes have been fatal, four serious, 13 minor and 22 did not result in injury.