By STACEY BODGER
ATIAMURI - Police investigating a fiery crash that killed two truck drivers near Atiamuri will decide this week whether to charge a farmer whose cattle are thought to have caused the accident.
Kevin Huta, aged 38, of Hamilton, and Joe Oppert, 51, of Tuakau, died when their trucks collided on State Highway 1 near the Atiamuri Dam, 40km north of Taupo, on Friday.
Firefighters took six hours to extinguish the inferno, caused by the combustion of chemicals inside Mr Oppert's freight truck in the collision with Mr Huta's wine tanker.
The policeman investigating the tragedy, Sergeant Lex Soepnel, of Tokoroa, believes one of the trucks swerved to avoid cattle that were wandering on the road.
Eight cows lay dead amid the wreckage of the two trucks.
Sergeant Soepnel said the farmer could be charged if his negligence had allowed the cattle to roam on to the road.
Police had spoken to him briefly on Friday and were hoping to formally interview him in the next few days.
Sergeant Soepnel believed that the cows had broken through a fence in a paddock quite a distance from the road and wandered through two further fields and out a gate on to the highway.
Cows' owner may face charges over tragedy
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