Two cars involved in a double fatal accident north of Auckland yesterday hit each other at a combined speed of about 200kmh, killing two young women, say police.
The accident left State Highway 1, near the Wellsford Golf Club, in a state of carnage with the two women, both aged 22, dead and two other women with serious injuries.
Police have not yet released the names of the dead women but said it appeared a southbound car lost control and crossed the centre line in appalling weather about 3pm to slam head on into a BMW.
The two dead women were the driver and the passenger from the southbound car.
A motorcyclist heading north had nowhere to go and was also hit by the southbound car, said Constable Caroline Ludford of the police serious crash unit.
She said at the speed the cars were travelling, it was "carnage" with wreckage from both cars and the motorcycle scattered over a wide stretch of road, which was closed for more than five hours.
The two seriously hurt women and a third person were taken by rescue helicopter to Auckland, while two with minor to moderate injuries were taken by road to North Shore Hospital.
The woman motorcyclist was moderately injured but may have more serious injuries which were still being investigated, she said.
A driver who drove past minutes after the accident said he was numbed by the sight of the road carnage and injured people, including the motorcyclist, being comforted.
"I don't know how anyone would have gotten out of the cars, I don't know how anyone could have survived it. It was a complete mess of metal," he told the New Zealand Herald.
"The cars were completely wrecked and were torn apart all over the road."
A resident who lived nearby said the scene was "pretty horrific. I've never seen anything like it in my life.
"You couldn't tell what was what. There were bits everywhere. You could tell the motorbike, but the others were completely pulled apart," he said.
