A major rescue operation is underway after a bus carrying at least 15 people crashed six metres down a bank into water in Tongariro National Park this morning. A police spokeswoman confirmed just after 10am a woman, initially trapped and partially submerged in water, had been freed from the 20-seater bus. St John district operations manager Steve Yanko said two people had moderate to serious injuries and were being flown by rescue helicopters to Rotorua and Hamilton hospitals. Five ambulances and a St John operations' manager were at the scene, and two rescue helicopters were at a staging post nearby, Yanko said. Police and fire were working with search and rescue to carry the injured out and up onto the road to waiting ambulances, who were then ferrying the injured to waiting rescue helicopters.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 14, 2017 19:36 UTC