Pair survive high-speed crash into tree

By NATASHA HARRIS and NZPA

Two young men were hurt in a high-speed collision in Glen Innes last night which left their car wrapped around a tree.

Police believe the car was travelling at more than 100km/h along Riverside Ave when it crashed sideways into the tree at 6.25pm.

It took firefighters 40 minutes to cut the passenger from the car as his legs were trapped around the trunk. He suffered only a broken finger. The driver suffered a broken wrist and severely broken leg.

The men are thought to be in their early 20s.

Police believe the car was overtaking another when it lost control and hit the tree on its side of the road.

Investigators believe the blue car it was overtaking contributed to the accident and they are looking for it.

Both cars were heading towards Glen Innes.

The Christmas holiday road toll stood at seven last night.

In the most recent fatal accident, a 16-year-old Waikanae girl died after a crash on the Napier-Taupo highway on Monday night.

Caroline Adele McCrae was the rear-seat passenger of a car which left the road in wet conditions.

The two other occupants were taken to hospital in Hastings with moderate to serious injuries.

Miss McCrae was the second person to die on Hawkes Bay roads this Christmas period. A 39-year-old Napier woman died in Wellington Hospital on Monday after a crash on State Highway 2 on Saturday.

Sergeant Denis Tatere of Waipukurau said the woman's car hit a tree north of Waipawa, about 40km southwest of Hastings.

The woman, whom police have had difficulty identifying, was alone.

Police have also yet to publicly name a woman who died after the vehicle she was in left State Highway 27 near Mangatarata on the Hauraki Plains and hit a power pole.

A 74-year-old man killed in a road smash on the Kapiti Coast on Monday was John Comper Smith of Wellington.

Mr Smith died when his car crossed the centre line and collided with a tour van on State Highway 1 about 3km north of Otaki.

Two people died on Saturday following road crashes.

Jamie Karl Wells, 20, of Ruakaka in Northland died after his car and another collided on SH1 near Whangarei, and Tara Tran, 33, of Wellington died after the van in which she was a passenger was involved in a collision with three other vehicles south of Turangi.

The first person to die on the roads during the holiday period was Guangcai Ye, 68, of Wellington, who died after the car he was in left the road north of Hamilton on Christmas Day.

The official Christmas holiday period started at 4pm on Christmas Eve and ends at 6am on January 5.

Fourteen people died in road crashes over the last Christmas holiday period.