Woman killed in West Coast crash named

Police have released the name of the 27-year-old German woman who was killed in a car crash in south Westland yesterday.

Marie-Luise Eckardt, from Brietenbach in Germany, was a passenger in a car that left the road and hit a tree at Bruce Bay on Haast Highway around 12.55pm.

Three German women were travelling in the car at the time of the accident and no other vehicles were involved.

The 18-year-old driver of the car and the other 25-year-old passenger, are in hospital - one flown to Dunedin with serious injuries and the other in Greymouth Hospital with head injuries - although the injuries are not life-threatening.

Constable Paul Gurney of Franz Joseph Police said neither of the injured women's injuries were believed to be life-threatening.

It is understood the three women had been in New Zealand since November on temporary working visas.

Police are speaking with the survivors to establish the cause of the accident.

- NZ Herald staff