First fatal crash of Easter closes state highway

The scene of a motor vehicle accident on State Highway 8, north of Twizel near Lake Pukaki. Photo / supplied

The Easter weekend road toll stands at one this evening after a two-car collision earlier today.

One person died at the scene of the crash on State Highway 8 between the Lake Pukaki Visitor Centre and Mt Cook Rd in Canterbury around 2.15pm.

A second person was flown to Christchurch Hospital in a serious condition.

Members of the public tried to help the injured people, police said. A number of other people took photographs of the scene and were urged to forward copies of the photographs to Canterbury police to help with investigations.

The serious crash unit was investigating police said.

A spokesman for police said no-one would be available to speak to about the Easter road toll until after the official holiday road period ends on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, a man is in a critical condition in the intensive care unit of Wellington Hospital after being hit by two cars outside a hospital where he was a patient earlier today.

The man was a patient at Kenepuru Community Hospital in Porirua, and was hit by two cars on Raiha St after walking from the grounds around 1pm.

He was a patient in a non-secure rehabilitation unit, and was "free to walk around the campus", a Capital and Coast District Health Board spokeswoman said.

The patient appeared to have walked out in front of the cars, police said.

"He was jumping out in front of traffic, and got hit by a couple of cars," acting senior sergeant Gordon Russell of the Wellington district command centre said.

The DHB would investigate the incident, the spokeswoman said.

Two siblings are lucky to be alive after their car slid off a narrow dirt road, crashing 300m down a cliff in a remote part of Banks Peninsula, in the hills behind Wainui, yesterday.

Emergency services worked for several hours to reach the pair, who were reportedly on their way home from volunteering at an event. The brother and sister were hoisted up the bank using a helicopter.

"They've gone off a steep bank and rolled numerous times for a distance of about 300 metres, so they are very lucky to walk away with minor injuries," Senior Constable Tim Johnson of the Akaroa police told TV3.

A 16-year-old boy was seriously injured after the car he was in rolled in a Kawhia paddock in Waikato on Friday evening.

The injured young man was flown by BayTrust Rescue Helicopter to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition with suspected chest injuries.

The official Easter holiday road period started at 4pm on Thursday, and runs until 6am on Tuesday, April 7.

Last year's Easter road toll was five, from a reported 95 injury crashes.

Three people were killed on the roads in 2013 over the Easter holiday period. The only fatality-free Easter ever recorded was in 2012.