A man whose home was smashed into by an out-of-control car is thankful no one in his family was hurt.
The site of the car crash in Warspite Avenue, Porirua. Photo: RNZ / Emma Hatton
Two people died last night after a vehicle crashed into the house on Warspite Avenue in Porirua at about 11.30pm.
Niraj Prasad said the car came in under the house and up through the floorboards of the lounge room where his children had been sitting only moments earlier.
"We were sitting there, like 30 seconds before it happened ... and I had asked the girls to go to bed and they hadn't even reached the bedroom when the actual thing happened."
He said they initially thought it was an earthquake.
"We heard the bang ... a big bang. At first, I thought it was an earthquake because I felt the house shake and the lounge floor rip apart.
"But there was a bang and then it stopped so I thought it couldn't be the earthquake but by then the girls were really, really frightened."
Prasad said he saw the lights shining underneath but did not initially realise it was a car.
"My wife said 'something has exploded' and I thought, there's nothing under the house that can explode, so we walked around the front fence and saw that there was a car inside.
"So I ran and grabbed water in case there was a fire hazard ... then the neighbours came out and said 'is there anyone inside?' But we just heard nothing.
"About one minute later the police arrived."
Photo: RNZ / Emma Hatton
His house, which he has owned and lived in since 2014, was undergoing renovations but he said they would now have to be put on hold as the crash had caused structural damage to the piles, which could be seen on a lean.
Explaining what happened to his children, aged 13 and 9, would be difficult, he said.
"It's really hard to explain what happened ... they've seen the car but what happened ... they don't know nothing and we aren't going to tell them because it's really going to disturb them."
He said his heart went out to the couple involved and their families.
The circumstances of the crash are under investigation.
