{"id":487692,"date":"2026-06-20T23:31:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/487692\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T23:31:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T23:31:29","slug":"one-dead-11-injured-in-van-crash-on-wharekopae-rd-in-patutahi-near-gisborne-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/487692\/","title":{"rendered":"One dead, 11 injured in van crash on Wharekopae Rd in P\u0101t\u016btahi near Gisborne"},"content":{"rendered":"

The victim of a fatal van crash near Gisborne that also injured 11 others was \u201cworking for his kids, but will never make it home to them\u201d, a person close to the man has written online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One person died and 11 were hurt, five seriously, in the single-vehicle crash on Wharekopae Rd in P\u0101t\u016btahi, 14km west of Gisborne, about 5.20pm yesterday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A person close to the victim wrote on Facebook that he was \u201cone of ours … who was working for his kids but will never make it home to them\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those involved in the crash, which sparked a massive emergency response including three helicopters and five ambulances, are believed to be forestry workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The person close to the dead man also wrote on Instagram that \u201cwe lost a great hardworking humble brother son dad and friend\u201d, with many more injured and still in hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease be mindful and show aroha as we navigate life right now … we are broken beyond repair.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also asked for \u201ctime and love\u201d for the injured and their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur guys are broken in body and mind … we have so many families affected by this horrible accident.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crash sparks major emergency response\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Hato Hone St John spokesperson said last night 11 people were taken to Gisborne Hospital after the crash, five in a serious condition, and three each in moderate and minor conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They sent three helicopters, five ambulances, two rapid response units, two operations managers and a major incident support team. Police and Fire and Emergency New Zealand crews were also at the scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe crash happened about 5.20pm yesterday. Photo \/ Google Earth\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyone who witnessed the crash or has information about it should contact Gisborne Police directly, or via 105, quoting P066755884, police said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearby resident Barry McLaughlin, who has lived in the area for 20 years, drove past the scene at the corner of Kirkpatrick and Wharekopae Rds shortly after the crash.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He told the Herald he saw police and members of the public assisting several patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vehicle appeared to be a white Toyota Hiace van, McLaughlin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MultipleMultiple people were injured in the crash on Wharekopae Rd near P\u0101t\u016btahi. Photo \/ Google\u00a0<\/p>\n

The road is notorious for crashes, McLaughlin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Fire and Emergency shift manager said a vehicle went off the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No one was trapped after the crash, the shift manager said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fire and Emergency\u2019s response included one crew from P\u0101t\u016btahi, two crews from Gisborne and an additional team providing support.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The victim of a fatal van crash near Gisborne that also injured 11 others was \u201cworking for his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[127023,244595,12506,42,10933,43,243928,40,38,41,39,244596],"class_list":["post-487692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-carcrash","tag-fatalcrash","tag-gisborne","tag-headlines","tag-injured","tag-news","tag-pttahi","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wharekopaerd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487692","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=487692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}