Family ceremony at accident scene

Four people died after a vehicle U-turned in front of a fully laden logging truck at Uretiti, State Highway 1. Photo / NZME.

Family members of four people killed in a horror pre-Christmas crash south of Whangarei have visited the scene of the tragedy and performed a traditional Asian blessing to honour the dead.

Two men and two female children were killed and an 8-year-old boy critically injured when, police say, a northbound Range Rover containing all five did a U-turn on State Highway 1, near Uretiti, into the path of a following logging truck about 12.55pm on Tuesday.

The dead, all from Auckland, were Andy Li, aged 43, Catherine Li, 10, Xingwu Bian, 47, and Ximeng Bian, 8.

The 8-year-old boy who was injured in the crash has been transferred to Auckland Starship Hospital, where he remains in a stable condition.

Initial police investigations from the scene indicate the driver of the Range Rover attempted to do a U-turn on the highway in front of the Smith and Davies logging truck.

The truck driver attempted to stop, but was unable to do so and his truck rolled on to the Range Rover. The truck ended up on its side, facing south, with its trailer upright, while the Range Rover ended up on its roof in a ditch beside the southbound lane. The driver of the truck was taken to hospital in a stable condition with moderate injuries. Police would not release the names of the dead earlier, until next of kin had been informed.

On Wednesday, six family members of the dead were taken to the scene by police staff and they performed a traditional Asian ceremony to honour the deceased, including lighting candles at the site.

Constable Greg Chisnall, who took the family members to the scene, said it was a very emotional time for them, but they wanted to perform a traditional ceremony to help the dead on their journey.

He said the ceremony involved lighting a small fire and giving food and other offerings to the flames.

The horrific accident came on the eve of the holiday season, with the official Christmas road toll period beginning at 4pm on Christmas Eve.

The four deaths bring the Northland road toll for the year so far to 19, compared with 21 for the whole of 2013.

Meanwhile, motorists can expect to see more police on the roads than usual over the official holiday road period.

Inspector Al Stewart said the main highways would be much busier as people began journeys to holiday destinations or to see friends and family. "If you're travelling on our highways, you should be seeing marked patrol cars," he said.

Intersections were a focus for road policing staff, he said.

The average fatalities at intersections in the past five years was 3.6 but last year there were 12 people killed at intersections.

Many motorists would be taking long journeys and needed to take breaks from being behind the wheel, Mr Stewart said.

Police would be focusing on drivers over the alcohol limit.

The official holiday road period runs until 6am on Monday, January 5.

Last year's Christmas-New Year road toll was seven, from a total of 193 reported injury crashes.

But the official holiday period was three days shorter than this year.