Four fatal accidents in three hours

In a brief three-hour period on Friday night four people died in four separate accidents.

All the victims died at the scene, in some cases before emergency services arrived.

At 8pm a motorcyclist collided with a parked car on SH12 near Paparoa, in Northland. The motorcyclist is yet to be identified.

At 9pm a truck rolled in the Waioeka Gorge, about 17kms from Opotiki. The driver died and the gorge was closed for several hours.

At 9.40pm a southbound train struck a person standing on the tracks near the Otahuhu Railway Station in Auckland. Police are investigating the incident.

At 11pm a women died in an accident about 4km north of Palmerston (north of Dunedin). The crash involved a sedan travelling north and a light truck travelling south. The woman was the sole occupant of the sedan and she was dead when emergency services arrived. She is believed to be from Oamaru.

Three people from the truck were taken by ambulance to Dunedin Hospital. SH1 was closed and a diversion put in place while the accident was cleared.

- NZPA