Hastings road policing supervisor sergeant Kevin Stewart said the Honda had gone off Burma Rd, which runs off SH2, and down a hill into the paddock below before it came to rest on its side.
Mr Collier, the driver was found dead in the vehicle. Mr Cardie, a front-seat passenger, had been thrown from the vehicle and his body was found some metres from the car. The farm worker assisted police in moving the bodies of the deceased with a quad bike and trailer.
Mr Stewart said he didn't believe speed was a factor. It was too early to know whether alcohol was a factor but that was a consideration, he said.
The crash was on an unsealed park of Burma Road and ran alongside steep farmland without barriers.
"It's a gravel road, really dangerous; it's not used a lot and if you don't have your wits about you chances of survival are not good at all.''
As of yesterday, the number of fatal road crashes in New Zealand this year was 90. In April last year, the yearly national road toll was at 78.
Farmers along the isolated road declined to comment when approached by Hawke's Bay Today yesterday.
- APNZ / Hawke's Bay Today
