A woman has died and a man is critically injured following a crash in Whanganui this morning.
The 33-year-old woman was a passenger in the car, which lost control and smashed into a tree on Papaiti Rd, around 6km north-east of Whanganui, shortly before 1am, police said.
She died on impact, Senior Sergeant Marc Clausen, of the police central communications centre, said.
The 22-year-old man was the driver of the vehicle. He was taken to Wanganui Hospital in a critical condition, and has since been transferred to Wellington Hospital.
They were the only occupants in the car.
"The circumstances surrounding the cause of the crash are not known and will be the subject of an investigation by the Serious Crash Unit and Wanganui CIB," Mr Clausen said.
"The road was closed for several hours while the crash was cleared and a scene examination was carried out. The road opened again around 4am."