Seven die over three days
A Morrinsville teacher was one of seven people to die on the nation’s roads since Friday. Four died in the Waikato region. The other fatalities were in Northland, where two died, and in Christchurch, where a motorcyclist died after a collision with a car on Friday. Casey Walker suffered critical injuries when her car hit a tree on Friday afternoon on a rural road near Morrinsville and she died hours later. Her husband, the only other person in the car, suffered minor injuries. Late on Saturday, emergency services were called to Wharepoa Rd, 16km north of Paeroa, about 9.50pm, where a pedestrian died after being hit by a car. Also on Saturday, two people were killed in a three-vehicle crash south of O¯ torohanga in the King Country. The crash happened about 9.50am on State Highway 3. On Friday, a Ruakaka father and son died in a crash involving a petrol tanker in Northland. They were Porsche Nepia, 31, and son Tyrhys Hita, 11.
Flight disruptions
Flights were delayed and passengers were rescreened after a woman’s rogue cigarette break added to fogrelated chaos at Auckland Airport’s domestic terminal on Sunday. Having gone through security as normal, a female passenger left her plane’s gate to have a final cigarette before boarding. She bypassed security on her return, thinking she didn’t need to go through a second time. All passengers had to be rescreened as a result and it took about two hours to get back to normal, a spokesman from Aviation Security said. The security breach compounded fellow passengers’ frustration after a thick blanket of fog over Wellington had caused delays and cancellations to flights in and out of the capital. Flight disruptions began on Saturday afternoon when the fog descended on Wellington Airport, causing knockon effects around New Zealand. A Macklemore concert went ahead in Wellington in the nick of time after the rap star was held up in Auckland, before reaching the capital via Palmerston North.