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Mini-train pins Palmerston North toddler
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
MIKE HEYDON
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Police examine the miniature train that ran over a two-year-old in Queen Elizabeth Park, Masterton.
Children watched in horror as the miniature train they were on ran over a two-year-old boy sitting on the tracks leaving him pinned beneath the 800-kilogram machine.
His parents were frantically searching for the two-year-old, who had walked away from a picnic, when he was hit while sitting cross-legged on the tracks at Masterton's Queen Elizabeth Park yesterday. . He was taken by Westpac rescue helicopter to Wellington Hospital's intensive care unit with serious injuries, including broken bones.
Firefighters had to use airbags to lift the weight off his tiny body.40pm and was coming out of a tunnel when the child was spotted sitting on the track.
Witnesses said the train had just rounded a corner about 12. His wife, Noeline, said he jammed on the brakes but had no way of avoiding the child.
Train driver Fred Reay, who had sounded the horn as he entered and exited the tunnel, had only a moment to react.
Mrs Reay said her husband was deeply upset: "Fred just loves kids and has been driving the train for two years and it is run by volunteers like us. The train's top speed is 13kmh. He is a hell of a mess. I don't think he will ever be able to drive that train again.
Masterton Miniature Train Society president Craig Esler said the railway had run for 35 years without incident."
The two-year-old, from Palmerston North, had wandered off from his family as they were setting up a picnic at the Kids Own Playground at the park."
. "This is a freak event that is just horrific for not only the little boy's family but for Fred
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$1m police station blaze
By CHARLIE GATES – Monday, 08 December 2008
A second arson attack in a week has caused about $1 million damage to a police station under construction in Christchurch, and set the project back more than two months.
The South Christchurch Police Station on Colombo Street, Sydenham, is now a blackened shell after a fire early Saturday.
A smaller fire at the station last week caused hundreds of thousands of dollars damage.
The fire destroyed the building's fittings and damaged concrete floors.
"The soot and dirt in there is unbelievable . … There are sagging pipes and melted wiring hanging down. It is black. Absolutely horrendous," he said. It is filthy."
Police believed the fire started about 4am on Saturday, but was only spotted by a neighbour about 5.
"The heat damage has eaten away at the concrete on the first floor.
The building was due for completion in March, but Rae believed there would be a 10-week delay.30am and reported to the Fire Service.30am and 5.
Police would like to speak to anyone who saw any activity near the construction site on the corner of Colombo and Strickland streets between 3.
Anyone with information can contact Rae via the central police switchboard on 03 363 7400.30am.
Seven fire appliances, including a command unit, attended the blaze at the end of Rocking Horse Road.
Police were also investigating a fire on Southshore Spit at 2pm on Friday.
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Anyone with information on the Southshore blaze should call Sergeant Valyn Barrett, of the Papanui police, on 03 374 1760
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Heartfelt ‘thank you’ to emergency doctor
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Every time Chris Lane passes a white cross on Centennial Highway he gets angry about the carnage he has seen on the coastal road in the past 20 years.
Dr Lane was honoured by the Kapiti Coast community this week for responding to numerous crash fatalities along the treacherous stretch of highway south of Paekakariki and to thousands of medical emergencies on the coast, free of charge.
Mayor Jenny Rowan, flanked by emergency service chiefs, presented Dr Lane with a Certificate of Appreciation to mark 20 years of "selfless service" to the community. With four other paramedics, he started Kapiti's Emergency Medical Service in the early 1990s.
Dr Lane, a general practitioner, has jumped in his car and rushed to crashes and medical emergencies since 1988. .
"Having the biggest population away from a base hospital and emergency services in the country, there was a desperate need for paramedics to provide life-support and treatment at accidents and medical emergencies," he said.
"The gaping wound of Centennial Highway is not healing.
Transit New Zealand responded by installing a 700 metre trial barrier in late 2004, which was extended along almost the entire road two years later. Something has be done to put an end to the carnage," he wrote in a letter to The .
The EMS had received no government funding, relying on community fundraising, till earlier this month when a $250,000 lifeline was announced to provide additional paramedic services, in conjunction with Wellington Free Ambulance.
The barrier has been hit 20 times since it was installed, preventing as many potential head-on fatalities.
Dr Lane received a New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005.
"Without the unflinching support of the community we would not have had the vehicles or equipment to save lives," Dr Lane said.
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Widower groom regrets fatal wedding day decision
Wellington Saturday, 08 November 2008
An Auckland man says he will forever regret his decision to drive home a wedding guest who drunk too much rather than travel home with his new bride.
Quiong Mao, 28, and Yan Liu, 26, had been married only a few hours when Ms Liu died in a car smash as she was driven home from her wedding reception on Thursday night. .
Her husband was driving home another guest when the BMW car Ms Liu was a passenger in was torn apart as it hit a light standard in the south Auckland suburb of Mt Wellington.
Instead he offered to drive home the guest who had had too much to drink before joining his bride at their home in Hillcrest on Auckland's North Shore.
Mr Mao said yesterday he should have been in the car with his new wife when they left their wedding reception.
"I should have been in the same car with my wife, but the car already had four people so I said I would take another friend home first.
It was a decision he would regret for the rest of his life, a tearful Mao told the New Zealand Herald."
When Mr Mao arrived home from the wedding reception at a Chinese restaurant in East Tamaki he was surprise Ms Liu was not there, and he tried to phone her. I wish things could be different.
One side of the BMW car was torn off in the crash.
He finally got through to a guest and was told the shattering news that his wife was dead.
Friends told the Herald Mr Mao, 28, could not be consoled over his wife's death and had not stopped crying. Also destroyed was the camera used to take the wedding pictures.
Ms Liu, who worked at an early childcare centre, had been living in New Zealand for three years.
Ms Liu had wanted a typical New Zealand wedding but the couple also planned a "grand wedding celebration" for family in China next year.
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Rescue underway to save trapped caver
Thursday, 06 November 2008
A rescue operation is underway to save a seriously injured woman who is trapped deep in an underground cave in the Waitomo area.
Senior Sergeant Robert Van Kalken said the woman had fallen in the Lucky Strike Cave, off Waipuna Rd west of Waitomo.
Police had been notified around 2.
"The woman was 40-60 minutes into the cave when she fell," Mr Van Kalken said.30pm of her fall and numerous agencies were involved inher rescue, which is expected to take up to six hours. A companion managed to pull her from the stream and cover her in a survival blanket before coming out to raise the alarm. "She suffered a broken hip and lost three teeth and fell into a stream. .
The rescue is expected to take some time because the cave is narrow and the woman will have to bemanoeuvred out on a stretcher.
Caving experts, police, search and rescue and St John Ambulance staff have all been brought into the scene to assist with the rescue of the woman.
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A rescue helicopter is currently on standby to airlift the injured woman to hospital once she has been brought to the surface
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NZer sought over assault that left tourist in coma
Friday, 17 October 2008
Australian police are offering a A$1000 (NZ$1130) reward for information leading to the arrest of a New Zealander they want to interview over a vicious attack on an Irishman in Sydney.
David Keohane, 29, has been in a coma since he was found lying on a road in the beachside suburb of Coogee about 3am on August 9 suffering head injuries.
Mr Keohane was the previous month taken home to Ireland by his family, but his condition has not improved.
Another man, 39, was arrested yesterday in connection with the attack on Mr Keohane and charged with hindering police and concealing a serious indictable offence.
Police now want to interview 19-year-old New Zealand man, Kane Desmond Tupuolamaoui, in connection with the assault, the ABC reported on its website.
Another New Zealander, Thomas Isaako, 19, appeared in court earlier this month charged with attempting to murder Mr Keohane and aggravated robbery with wounding.
He was granted bail and was due to appear at Waverley Local Court on November 19. .
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