As police investigations continue into the triple fatal vehicle accident on State Highway 1 on Monday, initial enquiries have led police to believe the truck had a tyre blowout.
This then led the truck, heading southbound, to cross lanes into the northbound hitting a van and two other vehicles near Ramarama in Counties Manukau.
Six people were in the van, all seasonal workers due home in Samoa later this week, with three of them dying on impact (ages; 45, 37, and 32). A 21-year-old man remains in hospital in critical condition with the other two (42 and 39-year-old men) sustaining moderate injuries.
Two people from other vehicles were treated for minor injuries. The truck driver also sustained minor injuries and has since been released from hospital.
Formal identification procedures are continuing.
Police are asking any witnesses of the crash and those with dashcam footage to get in contact with them.
‘I thought that was disgusting’
Counties Manukau road policing manager Inspector Tony Wakelin was disappointed by witnesses who went live on social media instead of helping.
“I thought that was disgusting.
“When I saw some of the footage, it was filmed before emergency services arrived. There were close-ups of people deceased in the van and injured lying on the road.
“That’s not acceptable, we should not be doing that and I say to the people who are filming that: How would you feel if that was your family? If that was your family in that vehicle and a relative saw them at the scene deceased, how would you feel? Please refrain from doing that,” he said.
Wakelin said the members of the public who stopped and helped should be applauded, not the ones who stopped and filmed the situation as it was unfolding.
Māori Pasifika ethnic services are helping affected whānau, Wakelin. said