{"id":454722,"date":"2026-06-01T00:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T00:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/454722\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T00:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T00:32:11","slug":"five-dead-in-overnight-crashes-including-three-on-desert-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/454722\/","title":{"rendered":"Five dead in overnight crashes, including three on Desert Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

\nFile photo.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/ Calvin Samuel\n<\/p>\n

Police are calling it “absolutely gutting” after five people have been killed in accidents overnight.<\/p>\n

Three people died after a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 1, Waiouru, overnight, while one person remains missing.<\/p>\n

Emergency services were called to the scene about 2.55am.<\/p>\n

Three people were found dead at the scene, police said. Two further occupants sustained serious injuries.<\/p>\n

Another person, who police believe was also in one of the vehicles, has not been accounted for. A search and rescue operation is underway to locate them.<\/p>\n

Poice Superintendent Steve Greally, director of road policing, said a total of five people have died in crashes overnight.<\/p>\n

One person has died following a crash in Wairakei<\/a>, north of Taup\u014d.<\/p>\n

Another person died in a single-vehicle crash in Waiheke Island overnight. Emergency services were called to Onetangi Road around 1.30am.<\/p>\n

“That is absolutely gutting,” Greally said of the road toll .<\/p>\n

“We are thinking of their families today, while they deal with the awful reality that their lives will never be the same.”<\/p>\n

There were two earlier deaths over King’s Birthday weekend, bringing the provisional number of deaths to seven.<\/p>\n

“We say it all the time but we’re going to say it again – there are four main things that contribute to death or serious injury on the roads,” Greally said.<\/p>\n

“Those are speeding, not using your seatbelt, driving distracted, or driving impaired, including by tiredness.<\/p>\n

“If you’re getting on the road today, please – buckle up, put your phone away, watch your speed, and if you are at all impaired by alcohol, drugs or tiredness, stop – don’t get behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

“These things might be the difference between you getting home safely or not.”<\/p>\n

The Desert Road has reopened, but police are still working in the area and ask drivers to be cautious.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"File photo. Photo: RNZ\/ Calvin Samuel Police are calling it “absolutely gutting” after five people have been killed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-454722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}