Gravel road crash kills three, injures five
TEKAPO: Three Chinese tourists have been confirmed dead as a result of a headon crash in the Mackenzie District yesterday morning.
A further five people were hurt in the twovehicle collision, police said.
Two people had serious injuries and three others had minor to moderate injuries.
Emergency services were called to the scene in Braemar Rd, between the intersection with TekapoTwizel Rd (State Highway 8) and Hayman Rd, at Tekapo, at 10.55am.
Three rescue helicopters were sent to the scene.
A Chinese Embassy spokeswoman told Stuff that police told her the three dead were part of a group of five Chinese tourists in a car that collided with a fourwheeldrive.
The two others in the group were in Dunedin Hospital, she said.
One of the first people at the crash site arrived to a ‘‘mangled mess’’ on the unsealed scenic road that is popular with tourists.
Braemar Station Shearers Lodge owner Hamish Mackenzie said he arrived shortly after the crash.
‘‘It was pretty horrendous. ‘‘There were a lot of emergency crew there, and a people carrier sideways on the road, which looked to have had a headon crash with a doublecab truck.
‘‘The people carrier was untidy, a mangled mess.
‘‘Emergency crews were using the jaws of life to cut it open.
‘‘Some guys I was talking to at the scene said there were tourists involved.’’
The truck appeared to belong to [someone] carrying forestry workers, he said.
The crash happened about halfway along the unsealed Braemar Rd, between Lake Pukaki and Tekapo.
It was a ‘‘quite a dangerous’’ section on the country road.
‘‘There are a lot of blind hills,’’ Mr Mackenzie said. ‘‘There have been crashes along Braemar Rd before, but not that spot. I have never seen anything that horrendous.’’
The scenic road was becoming increasingly popular with tourists.
‘‘There are views of the Southern Alps.
‘‘It is pretty scenic and so more tourists are coming along the road, but it is also a country road so needs to be treated with respect,’’ he said.
The crash yesterday took the number of people who have died on New Zealand roads this year to 65.
This was slightly lower than the corresponding period last year by which time 70 people had been killed. —