Bay of Plenty crash: Police name victim of State Highway 2 fatal

The scene of the crash on State Highway 2 at Pukehina.

Police have named the person who died in a crash on State Highway 2 at Pukehina on Monday.

He was Andrew John Blakeborough, 39, of Morrinsville.

Emergency services were called to the two-vehicle crash, east of Rodgers Rd, just before 2pm.

The driver of the other vehicle was taken to hospital with serious injuries. The drivers were the only people involved in the crash, police said.

The road was closed for several hours while the police Serious Crash Unit examined the scene and investigations into what happened continued.

Car was ‘crushed’

A witness at the scene on Monday said he could see that a car and truck appeared to be involved. He said the car was “crushed” and there was a trail of debris on the road.

The overturned truck was on the railway side of the road.

The witness, who did not want to be named, said he was travelling from Whakatāne to Tauranga when he came across the scene, probably minutes after the crash happened.

He saw a person being helped from the cab of the truck and first responders arriving at the scene. He understood a person in the car had died.

Video from the crash scene showed a truck and trailer on its side, half on the road and half in a paddock.

The contents of the trailer had spilt onto the side of the road.

A KiwiRail spokesperson said part of the railway line in the area was closed by police for a while, delaying a freight service, but it had since reopened.