A 17-year-old tourist was having surgery this evening after being impaled in the chest by a fence post when the bus he was on crashed.
The teenager was sitting by a window at the rear of the 20-seater bus when it left the road in the Fitzgerald Glade near Rotorua and hit the wooden fence about midday.
A batten smashed through the window on impact and impaled the teenager under his armpit.
Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance pilot Grant Bremner said the teenager remained conscious throughout the whole ordeal.
"It entered through his chest under his arm, and it's almost out through his back.
"He was still conscious and still aware of what was going on, obviously it was painful," he said.
He was coping "very well, considering".
The fence post remained in him while he was taken to hospital, Mr Bremner said.
His mother travelled with him in the helicopter to Waikato Hospital.
This evening, a hospital spokeswoman said his condition was described as stable and was undergoing surgery.
It's believed the tourists were from China, and were heading to Rotorua at the time of the accident.
Some others on the bus had minor injuries, Mr Bremner said.
- Natalie Akoorie of the NZ Herald and APNZ
