A witness to a fatal crash in Hamilton on Sunday morning has told Newshub she can't close her eyes as the scene keeps playing out in her mind.
Two people died in the crash involving a car and a truck on Whitiora's Ulster Street in Hamilton this morning.
It is believed the truck was turning into Pak'n Save when it was hit by the car.
Another two people have been transported to hospital in a critical condition.
Police were initially called to the scene at around 3:45am.
The car caught fire following the crash, and three officers are being treated for smoke inhalation after pulling occupants from the vehicle.
An eyewitness who didn't want to be named told Newshub there were three men and a woman in the car and she believed they were aged from late teens to late 20s.
She said there was a real community effort to rescue the people from the car with a worker from a nearby Pak'n Save rushing over to help.
People also ran over from an emergency housing motel and tried to put the fire out with fire extinguishers.
The witness told Newshub police were on the scene very quickly and were "incredible in the way they tried to pull people out."
Another witness, who was still shaking when she spoke to Newshub, said she couldn't close her eyes as the crash was still playing out in her mind.
She said there was no screeching or braking noises, just a loud bang.
Meanwhile, a shaken resident living nearby spoke with Newshub and described his morning.
"I just heard a big bang, jumped straight out of bed, went outside and there it was," Hamilton resident Jermaine Wilson said.
"My first reaction for me was I just wanted to run over and just try and pull them out the car but it was just that quick, the car just went up in flames."
He said people who came outside tried to help, but felt they couldn't.
"I just hope the families know about it and I'm sorry for their loss," he said.
"I just wish I could've done something quicker and better."
Wilson believes the weather conditions may have had something to do with the crash.
"It was pretty foggy, you couldn't even see," he said.
When asked to describe the scene, he said he couldn't and that it was too scary.
"They were all pretty young. They were all inside, windows smashed."
Police confirmed to Newshub they weren't pursuing the car before the crash.
Meanwhile, one person is in critical condition following a crash in George Street Papatoetoe.
Police were called to the scene around 1:40am after a collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian.
The pedestrian is now in hospital with critical injuries.
The Serious Crash Unit has examined the scene and enquiries into the crash are ongoing.
