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Whānau was reunited for Karakia after a dead person was found inside a submerged car in a Lower Hutt stream.
Earlier Thursday, police said a person was believed to be trapped in the single-vehicle accident, which occurred on Main Rd in the Lower Hutt suburb of Wainuiomata.
Later in the morning, the police would retrieve the person’s corpse from the vehicle, and would only transport him from the scene after a blessing and karakia involving whānau.
During the karakia, people could be seen hugging and hugging, with a dozen policemen and other emergency services personnel also present.
Rosa Woods / Stuff
The car plunged into Black Creek in Wainuiomata Thursday morning.
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Police personnel eventually escorted Whānau from the scene before a tow truck removed the vehicle from the creek.
The driver of the vehicle, a gray Mazda hatchback, was believed to be the only person inside at the time of the accident.
The incident itself occurred around 5.30am, at Wainuiomata’s Black Creek, which runs under Main Rd between Moohan St and Rowe Pde near Wainuiomata Rugby Football Club.
At the scene Thursday, evidence markers appeared to show the car veering off the road in the direction of the Wainuiomata shoreline, before heading down the creek bank and flipping over face down.
Police are investigating the cause of the accident, a spokesperson confirmed.
The slope of the bank from street level is about 10 to 15 meters, and many locals had gathered at the site Thursday morning to watch the tow truck remove the car.
Rosa Woods / Stuff
Police and whānau at the scene of the accident.
People snapped pictures on their phones and silently watched as water gushed from doors and windows. The front of the car and its roof were badly damaged.
At 10.20 a.m. M., Members of the National Police Diving Squad, who had entered the creek to secure the car to the crane, were packing.
The divers had conducted a search in the water after the car was removed, to make sure nothing was missed.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand and Wellington Free Ambulance attended the incident along with the police, however, only police personnel and road contractors remained until mid-morning.
Since the vehicle was recovered and towed, the detours that were previously in place around Main Rd were stopped.
Police at the scene declined to comment on the matter.
A woman who lived on property next to the creek said she had lived in the area since the 1980s and that a similar incident had never occurred there.
He was surprised to hear that someone had died.
Chris Brenton heard the sirens from the emergency services around 6.30am Thursday while he was nearby, and he headed straight for the scene. He ended up being one of roughly two dozen people gathered watching the vehicle being fished.
Another local said that the accident was not a surprise and that people were always speeding in the area.
In June 2015, a person was killed at the same location in a single-vehicle accident after his car struck the start of the Main Rd bridge that crosses Black Creek.
