A woman with a child was run over by a driverless double-decker bus in downtown Auckland, with witnesses racing to free her.
Pedestrians watched in horror as the runaway double-decker bus rolled down a hill and injured three people in downtown Auckland just after 1pm.
A witness said a young woman with a child was struck by the City Sightseeing Tours bus.
"She went under the bus and the rest of us managed to get out of the way," she told the Herald.
"Everyone jumped in and helped her out from under the bus. Then we had to locate the baby."
"There was no bus driver. There was no one.
"It was absolutely terrifying".
A St John spokeswoman said two people had been taken to Auckland City Hospital with moderate injuries. She could not confirm whether one of them was a child.
Police had earlier said three people had been injured, and all were in a minor condition.
Parts of the road were cordoned off and motorists have been warned to expect delays as traffic management remains in place.
A second witness, Mark Mallinger, told the Herald he saw a double decker sightseeing bus rolling down Victoria St and a person, presumed to be its driver, running after it.
He heard people screaming after the bus crashed into a construction site on the corner of Victoria and Albert Sts.
Mallinger said he heard a crunching sound as the bus crashed backward through a construction barrier.
He said the bus had gone through an area where pedestrians crossed the road at the traffic lights - and it was busy as it was lunchtime.
Despite the steep hill the bus came to a stop when it hit the construction site.
The bus had started rolling slowly, so he assumed it was being reversed - until it sped up and he saw the driver running after it.
A reporter at the scene said a woman appeared to have been trapped but was freed now.
She was sitting down holding a young child and was being attended to by fire officers. She appeared to have escaped serious injury and was able to walk to an ambulance.
Her arm appeared to have been hurt as it was strapped up and was scraped.
There was also an abandoned pram which did not appear to be damaged and appeared to belong to the injured woman.
A WorkSafe spokeswoman said it had been notified of the incident.
"We are making initial inquiries to establish what has occurred, and what our next steps might be."
Police said the crash near the corner of Victoria St and Albert St was reported at 1.05pm.
"Cordons are in place at the intersection where the incident has occurred.
"These are expected to be in place for a period while the scene is cleared."
Two ambulances have arrived at the scene and there are two fire trucks and two police cars.
A City Sightseeing Tours spokeswoman declined to comment on the accident.