A senior Northland police officer has described the sad reality of becoming accustomed to scenes of "complete devestation" like those he faced at the triple-fatal Whangarei crash this morning.
Northland road policing manager, Inspector Wayne Ewers, said he's gotten used to the carnage of road crash scenes, but the sadness from the loss of life never lessens.
"It's complete devastation, it's not great to turn up to these things and its a notorious piece of road, State Highway 1 through to Whangarei," Inspector Ewers said.
"Oh look, you get used to it, and you feel for the families' unfortunately, loved ones aren't coming home tonight and that's the sad thing about it.
"You're here one minute and you're gone the next, it's just sad, a sad day."
Two females and one male died in a three vehicle crash at 11:15 this morning on SH1 at Oakleigh, south of Whangarei.
A car travelling north collided head on with a truck after crossing onto the wrong side of the road. The truck then crashed into a second car.
"It was a mess with car parts and vehicle parts everywhere, and deceased people, so it's not pleasant," Ewers said.
One male is in a serious condition and a female sustained moderate injuries in the crash. They have been taken to Whangarei Hospital.
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