Police are still hunting for the driver, who left 17-year-old Danielle Rocque, her cousin and a dying friend in the back seat of a car that smashed through a metal barrier into a house on Onehunga's Arthur St about 10pm on Friday.
Witnesses reported the car had been racing another vehicle. The driver, and possibly a male front-seat passenger, were picked up by another vehicle shortly after the crash.
The dead woman, aged 25, who has yet to be named, was one of three people to lose their lives on New Zealand's roads during the weekend.
Last night, relatives prayed Danielle would walk again, as both she and cousin Tayla Fiaola (16) lay in a serious condition at Auckland City Hospital. Danielle has undergone hours of life-saving surgery on her mangled legs.
Tayla's mother, Sarah Fiaola, told the Sunday News her daughter suffered a broken pelvis, torn aorta, fluid around her lungs and two broken thighs and had also undergone hours of surgery.
She said Danielle's mother, Elisapeta Rocque, was recovering after giving birth in the hospital's maternity ward.
Arthur St resident Cat Daniel yesterday said she doubted Danielle would walk again.
"It was pretty obvious she had broken both femurs and both bones in shins because her legs were, like, in zigzags," she said.
Ms Daniel heard the crash occur about 10pm and rushed across the street.
Seeing other neighbours were helping the teenagers, she went to check the 25-year-old, but could not find a pulse. Police have been unable to locate the dead woman's next of kin so have not released her name.
"She just looked like she was asleep; no blood on her so I assume it was a quick thing," Ms Daniel said.
The vehicle which crashed, a Nissan Pulsar, had been stolen from Mt Roskill earlier on Friday night. The second stolen vehicle, a white Mitsubishi Galant, was found about 5pm on Saturday in Pt Chevalier.
The owner of the crashed car, Shafraz Nassar, said it was stolen while he was at his grandparents' house.
"Last night, it was an inconvenience, but now I realise it's nothing, not compared with someone's life," he said.
Arthur St resident John Warwick, who also helped the crash victims, was stunned the driver, and maybe a passenger, had bolted.
"It's unbelievable; I just can't believe they left them," he said.
Police are urging the driver to come forward.
"It's too late now to change the outcome of the crash, but the driver needs to do the right thing and come forward," Inspector Kerry Watson, of Auckland, said.
• The latest person to die on the country's roads was 22-year-old Christchurch man Troy Peter MacKay, who died after a police pursuit in Christchurch yesterday morning.
Police began to chase Mr MacKay about 12.20am after seeing a car being driven in a dangerous manner along Blenheim Rd in the city.
The vehicle turned on to the Christchurch South Motorway and then into Halswell Rd, where the driver lost control and struck a tree.
Mr MacKay died while being taken to hospital. Two female passengers suffered moderate injuries.
The other road death this weekend came at 5pm on Friday after a head-on crash in Rotokauri Rd in Nawton, a suburb of Hamilton.
The dead man, whose name has not been released, was believed to have been the driver of one car. A 55-year-old woman and her 23-year-old daughter who were travelling in the other car were both injured.
• Two occupants of a vehicle that slid backwards more than 100m down a paddock off North Rd, near Upper Junction, Dunedin, were lucky to escape uninjured yesterday,The crash occurred just after 1pm, in a heavy mist, after the vehicle failed to take a corner as it travelled down the road.
One of the occupants of the vehicle, a female, walked back up the hill, while the other, an older male, was driven by a farmer on a quad bike.
Police fire and ambulance personnel were in attendance.
A St John spokeswoman said the pair did not need to be taken to hospital.
- Additional reporting by NZPA/Otago Daily Times.
