Kawakawa crash victim, 87, named

The Northland Rescue Helicopter on State Highway 1 after Sunday's crash south of Kawakawa which claimed the life of Phil Pratt and left three others critically injured. Photo / NEST

The man killed in a head-on crash near Kawakawa on Sunday was Phillip Edward Pratt, a stalwart of Northland's country music scene.

Pratt, who was 87 and lived near Maromaku, was returning home from a Little Tennessee Country Music Club get-together near Pakaraka on Sunday when the Toyota RAV4 he was in and a northbound Honda Odyssey collided head-on.

He died at the scene while his wife Lois, who was driving, and another passenger were critically injured. All three had to be cut from the wreckage by volunteers from the Kawakawa and Paihia fire brigades.

Lois Pratt, 75, and the female passenger, 67, are in a stable condition in the intensive care unit of Whangārei Hospital.

Both are understood to have suffered multiple fractures.

A service will be held for Phil Pratt at 10.30am on Thursday at Morris and Morris Funerals at 17 Western Hills Dr, Whangārei. A second memorial service will take place once Lois Pratt is out of hospital.

Phil Pratt lived in the Bay of Plentyand in Kamo, Whangārei, before moving to the Far North.

He was a mainstay of the Mount Maunganui and Whangārei Country Music Clubs, and a life member of the Kawakawa-based Little Tennessee Country Music Club.

The 32-year-old driver of the Odyssey suffered only moderate injuries in the head-on smash, which occurred about 4.30pm on Sunday on State Highway 1 outside the oyster shop at Waiomio.

His passenger, also aged 32, was in a critical condition when flown to hospital. His current condition is not known.

While the investigation into the crash is continuing police will say only that one of the vehicles lost control in the wet and crossed the centreline into the path of the other vehicle.

A witness spoken to by the Herald said the northbound vehicle had overtaken her car at speed moments earlier.