By AINSLEY THOMSON
Five people were killed - two of them 8-year-old boys - and five seriously injured in a car crash near Rotorua yesterday.
The dead were Lorraine Roxburgh, 56, of Taupo, Rawinia Catherine Kingi, 32, of Rotorua, Rimmon Morrison, 25, of Rotorua, Chase Brooker, 8, of Kawerau, and Jacob
Willemsen, 8, Rotorua
Four of those who died were in a Volvo heading north which was in collision with two cars heading south.
The accident happened just before 3pm at Rainbow Mountain, 30km south of Rotorua on a stretch of road known to locals as "earthquake flat".
It was raining heavily and a policeman said the conditions were "atrocious".
The smash closed State Highway 5 into the evening. St John Ambulance staff said four people died at the scene and the fifth victim died in hospital.
Last night two young boys hurt in the accident were airlifted to the Starship in Auckland. A Rotorua woman was in intensive care in Rotorua Hospital and a couple, believed to be from Hawkes Bay, had also been admitted.
Rotorua Fire Service senior station officer Colin Rolfe said the crash created a horrific scene. Firefighters had to cut four victims from the vehicles, he said.
Seven people in total were killed in motor accidents over the weekend.
On Friday night a 63-year-old man died after a two-vehicle collision in Papakura.
Yesterday, one person died after a collision about 4.50pm at Katikati, 35km northwest of Tauranga. The head-on crash between two cars blocked State Highway 2.
Yesterday's Rainbow Mountain accident is one of a string of multiple fatalities to plague the area in recent years.
In January, four people were killed when a van and a ute crashed near Taupo.
In April 2001, three teens died when their car did a u-turn in front of a truck just north of Taupo. And in August 2000, five people were killed in a crash about 6km east of Taupo on the road to Napier.
