Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Marika Khabazi
A woman has died after a car mounted the curb and ploughed into a cafe in Auckland.
The crash, about 9am on Wednesday, closed William Souter Street in the North Shore suburb of Forrest Hill.
Three people were initially hurt – one critically, one with moderate injuries and one with minor injuries. Two were taken to hospital.
Police have confirmed one of those injured had since died.
RNZ / Marika Khabazi
“We just heard a massive crash sound,” Jess, who works in a neighbouring store, told RNZ.
“I was out back and I thought maybe some of our shelves had fallen down, so I rushed out to the front of the store, and lo and behold, there’s just a car on the sidewalk.”
Jess said she and her manager both rushed out and could see that the car had “obviously” crashed into the cafe.
“The first thing we saw was obviously the lady that was really injured, she was lying on the ground and there was, like, another girl, it looked like quite a young girl, whose face was bleeding as well so there were like two very noticeably injured,” she said.
“And the first thing was just to call 111, just because obviously we saw that the lady who was hit was in a not so good situation, she was in a lot of pain and she kind of looked super, super confused so we called emergency right off the bat.
RNZ / Marika Khabazi
“The car obviously has taken out the door area, the whole glass panel, it’s almost like a split glass panel and the one glass panel is literally floating in mid-air.”
Jess said they then tried to keep people away from the entrance so there were no further injuries.
She credited another nearby worker.
“The cat doctor next door to us, there is a cat nurse, she was brilliant in that situation, she ran right across from the cat doctor and she sat on the ground with the injured lady and she just sat with her and talked her through it. She was amazing,” Jess said.
RNZ / Marika Khabazi
A worker at the cafe that was hit by the car said a woman and her daughter were sitting at the time.
“Very sad news to see today. Thinking of all those involved,” North Shore MP Simon Watts said in a post on Facebook.
St John sent three ambulances and two rapid response units.
Police said only one vehicle was involved.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
