Truck carrying dangerous goods crashes near Taupo

The crash south of Rotorua where a truck carrying ammunition has flipped. PHOTO/SUPPLIED BY HANA RANSFIELD

A truck carrying more than 700kg of ammunition has crashed, causing a State Highway to close for more than three hours.

State Highway 1 between Taupo and Turangi was closed after a truck's trailer unit flipped just after 12pm.

Traffic was diverted around the western side of Lake Taupo.

Taupo Fire Brigade acting station officer Gary Balment said the truck and trailer unit had been carrying foodstuffs and 760kg of shotgun cartridges.

Some of the boxes had broken open but everything police and firefighters secured the scene.

The road was shut until the ammunition could be reloaded onto another truck and removed, he said.

The crash happened 6km south of Waitahanui when the trailer overturned on a mild bend. Nobody was injured.

Senior Sergeant Karl Konlechner of the Bay of Plenty Police District Command Centre said one of the truck tyres had blown out and that was what appeared to have caused the crash.

"They closed the highway as a precaution, but the ammunition was quite stable.

"There will be a full investigation of the scene and an interview with the driver to fully determine the cause of the crash."

Mr Konlechner said it was too early to say whether charges would be laid.