Napier-Taupō highway reopens after cranes lift truck and trailer from crash scene

The scene as salvage crews worked to remove a truck and trailer blocking the Napier-Taupō highway between Eskdale and Glengarry Rd on Saturday. Photo / Paul Taylor

A section of the Napier-Taupō highway was closed for more than 12 hours on Saturday for the salvage of a truck, trailer and its freight which had blocked the road since before dawn.

No injuries were reported in what police said was a single-vehicle crash, which happened about 24km northwest of Napier, between the State Highway 5 intersections with Hill Rd, near Eskdale, and Glengarry Rd, southeast of Te Pohue. It was reported to emergency services at 4.35am.

The stretch of road was closed between the two intersections and light vehicles were able to still travel between Napier and Taupō, detoured through Seafield and Glengarry roads. Operators of heavy transport vehicles were advised to take other routes.

A pair of mobile cranes were used at the scene, where the truck and trailer, operated by nationwide carrier Toll, straddled the northbound and southbound lanes, with freight also strewn across the highway.

Fire and Emergency NZ had crews from Bay View and Napier were at the scene, along with another unit amid worries that some of the freight may have contained hazardous material.

The road was reopened about 5pm.

It was at least the third highway truck crash in Hawke's Bay in just over seven days.

A driver of a stopped truck was killed when hit by another truck between Tikokino and Maraekākaho on Hawke's Bay secondary route State Highway 50 early on the night of June 11, and a truck and trailer overturned, but without significant injury, on the Napier-Awatoto coastline section of State Highway 51 early last Tuesday afternoon.

Emergency services were kept busy over the weekend, attending more than five crashes in the spaces of 24 hours.

One person suffered moderate injuries in a single-vehicle crash on SH2 near Waipawa on Friday night about 6.30pm.

Emergency services were called to a crash on Pakowhai Rd about 4.15pm on Saturday where a car had collided with a street light, though there were no injuries.

Emergency services also attended two car rolls.

No one was injured in the first which occurred on SH50 about 6.30pm on Saturday night, however, two people were taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital following a car rolling on Railway Rd South, near Longlands, about 2.25am on Sunday.

One man in his 20s suffered serious injuries and was on Sunday afternoon in a stable condition in a ward. Another man in his 20s had moderate injuries and has been discharged.

Police were also alerted to a car in a ditch off SH2, near Boundary Rd, about 5.20am on Sunday though no injuries were reported.

The driver of a car which crashed into a tree on Ormond Rd, Twyford, about 6.30am on Sunday left the scene before emergency services arrived.