Hawke's Bay road tragedy: Victim hit while unloading truck

IC12062021crashdetour A detour on Saturday as police investigated the death of a person said to have been hit by a truck between Maraekakaho and Tikokino on Friday night. Photo / Ian Cooper

Police are yet to release any details about the identity of a person who died after being struck by a truck on secondary route State Highway 50 through Central Hawke's Bay on Friday evening.

In a media release later on the night police said only that the victim was thought to have been unloading equipment from another truck when the tragedy happened.

The incident happened about 6pm on a stretch of the highway from the intersections of Glencoe Station Rd and Creek Rd, between Tikokino and Maraekakaho.

The stretch of highway was closed to traffic through Friday night and on Saturday for both clearing of the scene and the police crash investigation, but detours were available.

It was not until 3.45pm on Saturday that police reported the road had been reopened.

According to Ministry of Transport on-line statistics, the nationwide road toll for 2021 was 148 at midnight on Thursday. It compared with 173 in 2019 and 125 to midnight June 10 last year.

In the police Hawke's Bay area (Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay) there had been seven fatalities in the January 1-June 10 portion of 2019, and eight in the same time span last year, while Friday night's tragedy was thought to be the seventh fatality on Hawke's Bay roads this year.