Two young children are believed to be seriously injured in a crash near Whakatane.
Five people are injured following the head-on crash involving a single cab truck and a car on the Thornton Bridge, on Thornton Rd near East Bank Rd and West Bank Rd.
A Rotorua Daily Post reporter at the scene said there was chaos as police, fire and ambulance were working on those injured.
She said a baby, aged under 6 months, was lying on a blanket on the bridge while emergency services treated it.
A doctor was the first on the scene and worked continuously on the baby until emergency services arrived, a police officer at the scene told the Rotorua Daily Post.
Another child, a girl aged between 2 and 3, was also injured.
She was being cradled on the side of the road by a woman until the Tauranga-based TrustPower TECT Rescue Helicopter arrived and airlifted her.
The police officer said there were two adults and two children in the car and one adult driving the small flat deck truck.
The reporter said there was a patient on a stretcher being treated by paramedics while emergency services were working to free another injured person from the car.
The crash happened about 2pm. There are several police officers, three fire trucks and two ambulances present.
The Jaws of Life were used on one of the vehicles but the occupant was still trapped inside.
The Tauranga-based Serious Crash Unit was to investigate the crash.
Traffic was being diverted onto East Bank and West Bank Rds but the Thornton Bridge was completely blocked.
The crash is only about 100m where a man died on January 5. He was Tevita Vailala Pasikala, aged 24. The police investigation into the cause of that single vehicle crash on Thornton Rd is continuing.
- By the Rotorua Daily Post
