Young mum hysterical after fatal highway flip

A young mum and her family were devastated after they were involved in a fatal car crash on Friday night.

Lana Dubbeldam, 19, was driving a car with her partner and young child on State Highway 56 in Manawatu about 7pm when she and a Toyota collided.

The Toyota flipped and landed in a roadside ditch and the sole occupant died at the scene. Dubbeldam's young baby was uninjured but badly shaken. Her partner suffered a broken arm and was given first aid by a passing St John Ambulance worker.

A witness said Dubbeldam was hysterical when she was informed the other motorist had died. Her mother Linda Dubbeldam said the young couple were suffering emotionally.

"They are absolutely devastated about what's happened," she said.

Deputy fire chief Ian King said his team used a crane to lift the car out of the ditch. Cutting tools were needed to recover the body from the wrecked metal. The Serious Crash Unit is investigating.

The man was one of three people to die on the roads on Friday.

A Wanganui man killed in a motorcycle crash on State Highway 3 earlier in the day has been named as engineer Shane Beckham, 41.

And a woman in her 20s died when a truck collided with a car near Patetonga, in the Hauraki District, on Friday afternoon.