Off-duty soldier killed by truck hours before planned holiday

File photo / NZ Herald

An Australian soldier died after a night out drinking with Kiwi colleagues just hours before his wife was due to arrive for a holiday around the South Island, an inquest has been told.

Lance Corporal Duncan John Orr had been based at Burnham Military Camp outside Christchurch on a two-week training exercise in February last year.

On his last day, he enjoyed a meal and his new mates had been shouting him beers and rum mixers.

Around 11.30pm on Friday, February 15 when they were kicked out of the non-commissioned officers' bar at the camp, Mr Orr told friends that he wanted to go to town.

Mr Orr, wearing dark clothing, left his mates and was running south on State Highway 1 towards Christchurch - just to the right of the fog line - when he was struck by a truck and trailer at about 12.30am.

An inquest into his death in Christchurch heard today that video footage from truck's cab showed it would have been "impossible to see or avoid him".

Constable Elizabeth Johnson of nearby Rolleston police station, who oversaw the investigation, told Coroner Richard McElrea that they were satisfied there was no criminal liability surrounding his death.

The inquest heard a statement from the truck driver who said he had seen a dark shape shortly before feeling an impact and hearing a "loud thud".

He stopped and phoned emergency services.

Another member of the public told him the man was dead, and the driver said: "I didn't want to look."

He died at the scene.

A post-mortem examination found an alcohol level of 238mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, which Ms. Johnson considered being "at the high end of intoxication".

The legal limit for driving is 80mg.

The inquest heard that Mr Orr's wife Anna was arriving later that Saturday.

Mr Orr was going to take leave and the couple were going to go on a one-week holiday around the South Island, and even run a marathon near Queenstown.

The inquest is expected to conclude later today.