Teen tourist impaled by fence post in crash

A 17-year-old tourist has been impaled in the chest by a fence post after the bus he was a passenger on crashed in the Fitzgerald Glade, near Rotorua.

The young man was sitting by a window at the rear of the bus when the 20-seater bus left the road and hit the wooden fence about midday today.

A batten has smashed through the window on impact and impaled the teenager under his armpit.

Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance pilot Grant Bremner said the batten went right through the young man's chest and was poking out his back.

He said the teenager remained conscious and calm despite being seriously injured.

``It looks like a massive injury but I don't think it's life threatening.''

The boy's mother flew with him in the air ambulance to Waikato Hospital where he is undergoing emergency surgery.

It's believed the tourists were from China, and were heading to Rotorua at the time of the accident.