By STAFF REPORTERS and NZPA
Nine people are dead after weekend road smashes that included two triple fatalities.
The first multiple death happened just before 7 am yesterday. Three members of an Auckland family were killed and two others badly hurt when their car smashed into a concrete bridge on State Highway 1 about 12km south of Kaitaia.
Ambulance and emergency staff found the bodies of a man aged 32 and a girl, 11. Another girl, 4, died soon afterwards in Kaitaia Hospital, as her mother and 6-year-old sister lay critically ill nearby.
Senior Sergeant Gordon Gunn of Kaitaia said the family were heading north on a straight section of road when their hatchback apparently veered into the bridge, near the highway's intersection with Takahue Rd.
The highway was closed for about three hours after the accident.
Seven hours later, another three people died when their northbound car and a truck collided head on on State Highway 1 at Mission Bay between Taupo and Turangi.
Late yesterday, police were still trying to identify the victims and work out how the smash happened.
Sergeant Mark Robertson said the truck was badly damaged but the driver suffered only slight injuries. A third vehicle was involved, but only slightly damaged.
The road was closed until 6 pm.
Earlier, a 23-year-old man died when his car rolled on a road near Lake Karapiro in Waikato. The driver, the sole occupant, is believed to have died at the scene and is yet to be named.
Senior Sergeant Wayne Reed said the driver would have been dead for at least an hour when a passing motorist found the car and his body at 2.15 am.
The driver is believed to have lost control as he neared an intersection and the vehicle rolled.
On Saturday, the southbound lanes of Auckland's Southern Motorway were closed for 5 1/2 hours after a crash that killed Ruth Lucina Banks, 46, believed to be from Whitianga.
She was driving a car north at 10.15 am when it crossed a grass median strip between Drury and Ramarama and collided with a truck.
The truck driver was taken to Middlemore Hospital.
A 19-year-old motorcyclist died in a smash at the Kopaki turnoff, southeast of Te Kuiti, at 4 pm on Saturday.
Police are seeking the driver of a green, late-model car, possibly a Holden Commodore, who may have seen the crash.
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