By Belinda Feek of the New Zealand Herald
Tributes are beginning to flow for those killed in yesterday's horror crash that claimed three lives.
The 21-year-old driver of the vehicle remains critical in Waikato Hospital and unaware that his friends are dead.
The group of four were heading north on the Desert Rd at about 7.15am when they appear to have lost control and slid into the path of an oncoming truck carrying waste substances.
The passengers -- two from Wellington, one from Auckland -- died at the scene. The driver was flown to hospital by Taupo's Greenlea Rescue Helicopter.