Police name men killed in crash near Hastings

The crashed vehicle.

The two men killed in a crash near Te Hauke south of Hastings yesterday have been identified by police.

Clarence Collier, 40, of Bridge Pa and Bruce Cardie, 52, of Flaxmere died when their vehicle plunged 600 metres off a dangerous rural road.

The police Serious Crash Unit is continuing its investigation into the crash.

Police were alerted to the crash yesterday morning after a farm worker came across the wreckage on a farm property on Burma Rd, off SH2. The Hastings fire service rescue team also attended.

Eastern District communications manager Kris McGehan said the car had rolled about 600m. Police believed the crash had happened on Sunday night and no other vehicles were involved.

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