Two people taken to hospital after Napier-Taupo road crash

Low cloud meant a rescue helicopter was unable to remove injured motorists from a SH5 accident site. Photo / Warren Buckland

Two people were taken to hospital after a crash on Wednesday morning involving a truck and a van near Te Pohue on State Highway 5 northwest of Napier.

It is believed the van struck the rear of a southbound logging truck-and-trailer, about 4km north of Te Pohue.

The injured men - one aged in his 60s with serious injuries and the other in his 20s with moderate injuries - were taken by St John Ambulance to Hawke's Bay Hospital, more than 60km away in Hastings.

Hawke's Bay DHB staff later said the elder man was being transferred to Wellington Hospital, and the younger man was in a stable condition in a general ward.

Hawke's Bay Rescue Helicopter Service general manager Ian Wilmot said the service was called but after advice from the Hawke's Bay Airport control tower decided low cloud and poor visibility in the crash area meant a flight to the site was not possible.

Police said the crash was reported about 8.35am, and Fire Emergency NZ reported about 40 minutes later crews had just arrived and were extricating a person from a damaged vehicle.

Traffic was restricted to one lane for more than two hours before the van was removed aboard a salvage vehicle.

One person was seriously injured and trapped in a vehicle after a crash near Te Pohue, about 43km northwest of Napier.

Meanwhile police had by late-morning today not released further information on a crash about 60km further to the north, apparently belatedly reported late on Monday afternoon.

Told that a vehicle had been found at the bottom of a ravine off SH5 near Waipunga Falls, police learned that two people had gone to the Hawke's Bay Hospital emergency department with injuries believed to have been linked to that incident, thought to have happened on Sunday night.

Neither was admitted but police said on Tuesday they wanted to talk with the pair about "what happened and when", a police spokesperson said.