A man and woman in their 40s were killed in a car crash early yesterday.
A passing motorist discovered a Mitsubishi double-cab utility vehicle in a ditch south of Pakipaki on SH2 about 2am and alerted emergency services.
The bodies of the two occupants were found a short distance away, after being thrown from the vehicle.
The accident happened on a straight stretch of road in dry conditions after the vehicle had exited a slight left bend between Pekapeka Wetlands and the lime works at Pakipaki.
The vehicle had been travelling north toward Hastings but came to rest facing the opposite direction.
No other vehicles were believed to have been involved.
The utility's canopy was smashed in the crash, scattering debris over a wide area.
The road was closed for several hours while investigators from the Hawke's Bay Serious Crash Unit attended the scene.
In the first fatal accident of the holiday weekend, emergency services were called to the corner of the SH2 and Petane Rd in Bay View, Napier, on Saturday.
Police say a Subaru vehicle travelling south crossed the centre line into the path of an oncoming Mitsubishi 4 x 4 at 6.40am.
The driver of the Subaru, a man in his 20s, died at the scene.
The three people in the Mitsubishi were trapped and released by firefighters. They were taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital where a man is in critical condition. The others had been discharged.
It is believed no one involved in the Bay View crash was a Hawke's Bay resident.
Petane Rd resident Karen Morris said since the speed limit had been lowered from 100km/h to 70km/h the road had been safer.
"People were always a bit hesitant to pull out from the street but there was some community consultation and they dropped the speed limit," she said.
Racheal Wharahinga had gone to buy a loaf of bread when she saw smashed cars blocking the road and in the ditch.
"It was horrific," she said. 'Then I heard there was someone killed - it is just horrible."
On Thursday, three people were injured after an overtaking manoeuvre resulted in a crash on the same stretch of road north of Hawke's Bay Airport, renewing police calls for caution on the roads.
The names of the deceased from both accidents have not yet been released by police, with relatives still being contacted.
The three deaths take the unofficial road toll for the region this year to 18, compared with 23 at the same date last year, when there was only one death on Bay roads during Labour Weekend.
The national Labour Weekend road toll has climbed to five and is expected to keep growing.
The most recent was a two-car collision north of Wellsford just after 9am yesterday which claimed a man's life.
A female motorcyclist died after hitting a power pole in Whanganui at 7.30pm on Saturday.
National Road Policing Manager Superintendent Paula Rose said the toll was expected to keep growing.
"The sad reality is there will be more crashes between now and 6am Tuesday morning, when the holiday weekend finishes, but the real focus for us is to make sure we keep those right down to a minimum," she said.
Last year crashes over the Labour Weekend holiday claimed eight lives.
Overall, the road toll was well down on last year - today there had been 225 road deaths in the year to date, compared with about 300 at the same time last year, she said.
Ms Rose said vehicle quality, safety features, speed and road quality often contributed to the difference between a fatal and a serious crash.
Additional reporting APNZ