My Account
Two mothers and their children are counting their blessings today having escaped with their lives after a vehicle crashed through a Warkworth playground yesterday.
Friends Pearl and Eden were with their children in the playground next to the public toilets in Warkworth when an airborne vehicle tore through the playground, just metres away from them.
The vehicle demolished a bench that the mothers were sitting on just 30 seconds earlier. The swings where their children were playing were also damaged from the impact.
Pearl said the incident played out like a movie scene. She said a car, travelling at high speed, flew through the playground and bystanders fled for their lives.
Peter, of Omaha, was eating at the Gourmet Burger on Neville Street, when he heard the roaring of a revving engine and an almighty crash.
He said the vehicle first hit the roundabout at the bottom of Neville Street before becoming airborne and narrowly missing the Flooring First shopfront and then sliding into the carpark at the public toilets. It hit the kerb in the carpark and became airborne, flying over the top of the playground and landing in the Mahurangi River.
Emergency services were alerted at 5pm. St John ambulance, Warkworth Police and the Warkworth Volunteer Fire Brigade were promptly on the scene.
Police say access was gained to the vehicle and the sole occupant was found to be deceased.
The vehicle was winched out of the river by a tow truck.
The Serious Crash Unit was alerted and enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are continuing.
Police have not yet released the driver’s name.
