A truck that careened through two Papatoetoe properties on Sunday morning, killing the driver, has been pulled from the house it crashed into.
The man driving the truck died at the scene of the incident, which occurred just before 5:30am.
The truck is thought to have lost control and driven through the front yard of a house on Great South Rd, clipping its roof - before ploughing into another house.
(Adrien Taylor / Newshub.)
Emergency services are at the scene, along with the Serious Crash Unit, who are investigating. Diversions were in place around Great South Rd and Central Ave earlier this morning.
Counties Manukau Acting Senior Sergeant Dion Bentley said it appeared that the driver "had some sort of medical event" in the lead-up to the crash.
He said removing the truck from the house was a lengthy process, with the roads closed for four to five hours as they carried it out.
Snr Sgt Bentley described the damage to the house as "reasonably bad".
Sgt Ollie Nation said it was fortunate that no one was home at the first house, but says the family in the second house would have got "an almighty jolt".
The home owner, Dr Raghubir Rehan, told Newshub he and his family were fast asleep when the truck hit.
"When I heard the big bang I thought it was maybe an earthquake because our house was shaking - then quickly it comes into my mind that somebody has banged into the fence," he said.
"I saw [the truck] from upstairs, then my alarms come on, and after that I called the emergency services."
The truck was firmly embedded in the house when police arrived at the scene (Tim Raethal / Newshub.)
Dr Rehan said police and ambulances arrived within five to seven minutes, and started to get to work. It was only then that he and his family had recovered sufficiently to emerge from their home.
"We were scared to come outside - my children were screaming [and] my wife was screaming at that time. It was quite traumatic - it still is."
The home's balcony had to be propped up after the truck ripped out a pillar (Adrien Taylor / Newshub.)
He said the shock was so great in the minutes after the crash that he didn't even think to check on the driver.
While the damages to the house are covered under insurance, Dr Rehan said plenty of "hard work" had gone into renovations that had only been completed quite recently.
He said a portion of the second home was actually being held up by the truck, which was firmly embedded into the building.
(Adrien Taylor / Newshub.)
"I can see it being quite a delicate operation removing the truck from where it is and keeping the house standing, at this stage," he said.
Earlier, police said they were working to free the driver from the truck cab, who had become trapped by the balcony of the house he crashed into.
It's not yet known what caused the driver to veer off the road and into the properties.
Newshub.
