Youth wakes after crash that killed best mate

DEIDRE MUSSEN/Fairfax NZ

FATAL: The scene of the crash in which teenager Peter Gleeson was killed.

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A West Coast teenager who was critically injured in a car crash that killed his best friend has woken from an induced coma.

Ricky Mahuika, 17, has been in a critical condition in Christchurch Hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after a car he was a passenger in crashed into a power pole about 1am on Friday on Kaniere-Kowhitirangi Rd, near Kaniere.

The driver, and Mahuika's best friend, Peter Wayne Gleeson, 17, was killed.

Speaking from hospital last night, Mahuika's mother, Kim Mahuika, said her son was moved out of ICU late this evening and still did not know Gleeson was dead.

"He's asked but we have been protecting him a bit. We are going to hold off as much as we can. It's going to absolutely devastate him.

''He was just talking about Peter and Peter's mum. I just said the main priority Rick is to get some rest and he just dozed in and out. I have been talking to Peter's mum and we have been sending our love to each other."

- © Fairfax NZ News