A witness to the car fire that left a woman dead in Wellington says she’s been left shaken by the “horrific” incident.
Laurie Campbell was driving home with her friend when she saw a man park on the side of Centennial Highway just before the Newlands Bridge over-ramp and run around to the driver’s side of a burning car where a woman was getting out of the car before she fell to the ground.
“I think from the silhouette we saw it was a woman. She was engulfed as much as the car. It wasn’t nice to see,” she said.
Campbell said the entire inside of the car was consumed with a “roaring fire, like it was a gas fire… but the bonnet and engine wasn’t on fire.”
“I was really surprised she was still alive… You couldn’t see her skin,” she said.
“I’d like to know what the hell happened.”
Campbell said it didn’t appear the car had crashed into the pole it was parked against as there was no impact on the car.
“I have complete empathy for the woman’s family and that man.”
She said the man that was first on the scene looked “horrified” and appeared to have first checked the passenger’s side of the car potentially to see if anyone else was present.
Campbell and her friend are now supporting each other.
Police said in a statement this morning the woman died early this morning after being taken to Wellington Hospital in a critical condition yesterday evening.
Police were notified of the State Highway 1 crash at about 4.45pm and an investigation into how the crash occurred has been launched.
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