One dead, ten injured after pickup collides with truck on State Highway 5, Tarawera

One person died and 10 others were injured after a pickup truck collided with a truck on State Highway 5 near Tarawera on Monday morning.

Emergency services were responding to the collision of two vehicles on SH5, between Tataraakina Rd and Pohukura Rd, at around 9.52am on Monday.

Police said the accident, outside the Tarawera Café, involved a van and a truck.

A spokeswoman for St John Ambulance said one person died and 10 others were injured.

A spokeswoman for St John Ambulance said five people were taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital: one seriously injured was airlifted and one seriously and three moderately taken by ambulance.

One person in critical condition was airlifted to Gisborne Hospital, while one person in critical condition and one person in moderate condition were airlifted to Palmerston North Hospital.

Another person in serious condition and one person in moderate condition were taken by ambulance to Taupo Hospital.

The road is blocked and closed from the Napier and Taupō ends. Police said it would be closed for some time.

Hawke’s Bay Police Officer and Major Accident Analyst Tim Rowe confirmed that one person died at the scene.

The truck driver was unhurt.

Rowe said the accident was likely caused by a “momentary lapse of concentration.”

He said three workers’ vans were traveling north at the time of the accident. One had stopped to the left of the road, then turned right into Tarawera Café and a truck traveling north was unable to avoid them.

A spokesperson for Tarawera Café said the accident involved a truck carrying wine and a van carrying workers who had just called the café.

The truck and van ran off the road and fell down an embankment after the collision.

Wine was dripping from the truck.

A New Zealand Fire and Emergency spokesperson said three fire trucks, two from Napier and one from Bay View, were heading into the accident.

A spokesperson for St John Ambulance said they were notified of the accident at 9.52am and that they had dispatched three helicopters, four ambulances and a St John manager in a rapid response vehicle.

Three other helicopters were also on standby.

Motorists are asked to avoid the area.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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