Miraculous survival | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

A teenage girl who survived being flung over a bridge and into the river below when a van full of her friends collided with a car on Saturday morning is miraculously nursing just a broken arm and a cut to the head.

Jordyn Beach, 17, was one of three who were catapulted out of the van and into the shallow water 15m below when the head-on collision happened just before 2am on a bridge near Taradale.

Jordyn's boyfriend, Havelock North High School student Robert Waikari, 17, and his friend Max Harman, 17, fell alongside her but were found dead in the river when police arrived.

Jordyn managed to walk out of the river and up to the road where she was met by police arriving to help.

Her mother, Barbara Beach, the owner of Diva Bistro and Bar in Havelock North, said her daughter was "emotionally distraught".

She had been discharged from Hawke's Bay Hospital yesterday afternoon.

"She has a broken arm and a big laceration on her head but she is coming right," Mrs Beach said.

Police had come to their home in the early hours of Saturday to tell them of the crash.

Another Havelock North High School student, a 16-year-old girl, had been driving the van and police said she had been drinking.

"I knew Jordyn was with a group of friends," Mrs Beach said. "All us parents know they always assign someone sober to drive.

"We thought this would happen on Friday night but we don't know yet. We need to get the facts."

Bill Adams, the principal of Havelock North High School, said Robert was in year 12 and had transferred to the school at the start of the year.

He described him as "a pleasant young man" who enjoyed trade-related subjects and had hoped to begin an apprenticeship at the end of the year.

"Our only thoughts at this sad time are about recognising that this is a tragedy for Robert's family and friends and to try to find a way to support them," Mr Adams said.

"We know this is every parent's nightmare."

Max's parents Greg, a former Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter crewman, and Ginny Harman asked for privacy at the weekend.

Their son finished school at St John's College last year and had begun a joinery apprenticeship with his father.

Another teen, 18-year-old former Lindisfarne College student Ben Morrison, was in Wellington Hospital today listed in a serious condition.

Ben Wheeler, 18, from Napier, had also been in the van but was not seriously injured.

The only one left in Hawke's Bay Hospital this morning was the driver's boyfriend.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said earlier reports that he was paralysed were wrong.

The party they had come from was on Wharerangi Rd and a woman at the address yesterday said she was too upset to talk because the driver was her niece.

The driver's uncle, who had given her a home after her father died, said his niece could only remember the headlights of Napier man Simon Taunt's car coming towards them.

"It's a bit raw. She's not long got her licence, too. She's at the hospital, just staying with her boyfriend."

Police would not be drawn on the licence the driver held or what her blood alcohol level was.

A decision on any charges she would face would "not be made for some time", police said.

The Ford Ecovan she had been driving belonged to Robert and had couches installed in the back as seating.

Friends of the van's occupants gathered on the riverbank at the weekend while a floral tribute had begun at the Napier end of the bridge.