One dead after collision between car and logging truck on expressway in Hastings

A Suzuki Swift and a logging truck collided on the Napier Hastings expressway this morning. Photo / Warren Buckland

One person died instantly in a crash with a logging truck on the Hawke's Bay Expressway in Hastings yesterday morning. Emergency services were called to the scene involving the truck and a car near Links Rd at 7.53am.

Sergeant Paul Ormerod said a black Suzuki vehicle with one male occupant was travelling south on SH50a, while a McCarthy Transport logging truck was heading north.

"The Suzuki veered right into the path of the logging truck. The truck took evasive action as much as possible but the two vehicles collided, killing the occupant instantly."

The Suzuki flipped onto its roof, coming to a rest on the left-hand side on the grass verge of the expressway.

The truck driver was uninjured.

The man who died was a foreign national.

Sergeant Ormerod said police were in the process of informing next of kin and family of the man killed.

He had no family in New Zealand.

The road was closed, and diversions put in place, before being reopened early yesterday afternoon.

The Serious Crash Unit was investigating.

There have been 137 fatal road crashes in New Zealand as of yesterday, from January 1 this year.

The latest death takes the number of deaths on Gisborne and Hawke's Bay roads to four so far this year. Last year, the road toll reached 12, up five on the previous year.