Tarawera crash turns fatal: Victim succumbs to injuries in hospital

A crash on an isolated highway between Taupō and Napier has turned fatal, with the victim succumbing to their injuries in hospital. Photo / Bevan Conley

• A crash on State Highway 5 between Taupō and Napier has turned fatal after the victim died in hospital.
• The collision involved a car and a truck near Tarawera, closing the road for seven hours.
• Police are continuing their inquiries.

A crash on an isolated highway between Taupō and Napier has turned fatal, with the victim succumbing to their injuries in hospital.

A police spokesman confirmed the person critically injured in last Wednesday morning’s crash on State Highway 5 died yesterday.

“Police extend our sympathies to their family and loved ones,” he said.

The crash happened near Tarawera at about 8.50am. One person was flown to Hawke’s Bay Hospital with critical injuries and another was injured. The road was closed in both directions for about seven hours.

The crash involved a car and a truck, police said earlier, and happened near the Tarawera Cafe.

Police were continuing their inquiries.

Napier traveller Karen Crawley, who was on her way to Hawke’s Bay from Ruapehu, was trapped in the queue west of the crash site since before the arrival of the first emergency services. She said: “It’s wet and miserable and my heart goes out to all those involved”.

“The visibility is very poor, and if it wasn’t raining it would be nice to get out and stretch,” she said.

Other motorists said fog had caused problems with visibility on the highway earlier in the morning.

As torrential rain fell early in the afternoon Crawley said most southbound cars appeared to have turned back towards Taupō, and the queue was mainly trucks.

The speed limit of 80km/h, installed on the highway three years ago, reverts to 100km/h at 6am on Thursday.

Emergency services on Wednesday afternoon also went to another collision involving a truck in Napier about midday.

The second vehicle in the crash at the intersection of Niven and Wakefield streets, in the Onekawa Industrial District, was a ute. Police said soon afterwards there were no injuries.

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