Wairarapa crash victim dies in hospital

Diversions were in place from East Taratahi Rd to Hughes Line on State Highway 2 after the head-on crash. Photo/Hayley Gastmeier

A man has died in hospital after he was injured in a crash near Carterton last week.

The man was being treated at Wellington Hospital after the crash in Clareville, Wairarapa last Thursday.

Police said the man has since died, while the Serious Crash Unit continues to investigate the incident.

On Thursday the Wairarapa Times-Age reported an elderly man was critically injured in a head-on crash, which closed a section of State Highway 2 for about three hours.

The man had been trapped in his car after a collision with another vehicle on SH2, near Masterton at 2.45pm.

Police Sergeant Quentin Hoera said one vehicle had been travelling south and the other north when the crash occurred at the top end of the northbound passing lane.

The two vehicles involved each had one male occupant.

"Scene examination by the Serious Crash Unit will confirm this later in the investigation, but initial witness accounts suggest the southbound vehicle has crossed the centreline," he said.

The man, in his 70s, was taken to Wairarapa Hospital by Wellington Free Ambulance, and the other driver was treated at the scene for less severe injuries.