One person is dead and another critically injured after a head-on crash on State Highway 6, near Haast, on the West Coast yesterday.
The crash between a car and a camper van occured about 4pm, between Lake Paringa and Lake Moeraki, between Haast and Fox Glacier.
The dead person is a male New Zealander and the injured person is an international tourist. Both are believed to have been passengers.
Early indications are that one of the vehicles had crossed the centre line, Greymouth police said. No further information was available.
A St John spokesman said the crash was attended by rescue helicopters from Queenstown and Greymouth and two ambulances.
One of the injured, a man in his 40s, was taken by the Queenstown rescue helicopter to Dunedin Hospital with suspected pelvic injuries. A second person was flown to Grey Base Hospital Emergency Department in a serious condition with shoulder and leg injuries.
It was the third death in the South Island during the 2011 Christmas holiday period and brings the holiday road toll to nine.
Last year, 12 people died during the official holiday period - from 4pm on December 23 to 6am on January 4. The worst recent Christmas holiday road toll was in 2008-09, when 25 people died.
A 20-year-old Auckland man charged with the Christmas Day deaths of his teenaged cousins will be in custody when their tangi is held in Tauranga today.
The man, whose name was suppressed, appeared in the Tauranga District Court yesterday before a community registrar. He faces two counts of manslaughter over the car crash which claimed the lives of sisters Merepeka Morehu-Clark (14) and Brooklyn Morehu-Clark (13), in Tauranga.
The man, who was allegedly driving the vehicle in which the sisters died, was remanded in custody without plea to re-appear next Wednesday.
The father of the dead teenagers, Wiremu Clark, said the girls were not wearing seat belts in the back seat when the car collided head-on with a utility.
Toll to date
Dec 28: One person dies when a car and a camper van collide on SH6, north of Haast.
Dec 27: One person is killed and three are seriously injured in a two-car crash on the Desert Rd.
Dec 27: An elderly pedestrian dies after being hit by a car on SH1, near Auckland.
Dec 25: A 52-year-old woman dies after she is struck by a courier van north of Hamilton.
Dec 25: Teenagers Brooklyn Morehu-Clark and Merepeka Morehu-Clark die when a car and a ute collide in Tauranga.
Dec 24: A 29-year-old man dies when his car rolls in to the Waihi River, in South Canterbury.
Dec 24: A 78-year-old woman dies when her car and a truck collide on SH3, at Waitara.
Dec 24: A 20-year-old man dies when his car rolls in to the Avon River, in Christchurch.
- Additional reporting by APNZ
