Second woman in Far North crash dies

Two elderly Far North women died when the Ford Fiesta they were in (left) and a people mover collided near Houhora on Tuesday.

A man who is believed to be from overseas has been charged after two elderly Far North women died in crash on Tuesday.

Marion Evelyn Andrew, 77, and 76-year-old Pauline Mary Ogilvy, both from Houhora, died after the crash, near Houhora Heads, about 10.30am. One died at the scene while the other later in hospital.

Police said a 28-year-old man is facing two charges of aggravated careless use causing death and one charge of aggravated careless use causing injury and will be appearing in the Kaitāia District Court.

The two women were fatally injured when the Ford car in which they were passengers and another vehicle, believed to have been driven by a Chilean national, collided on a bend on Houhora Heads Rd on Tuesday morning.

Emergency services were called at a little after 10.30am. The Northland rescue helicopter was subsequently called, flying two seriously injured people to Whangārei, although according to police both drivers, and the passenger in the second car, escaped with minor injuries.

The crash took Northland's road toll for the year to 19, compared with 15 at the end of May last year. The Far North's toll now stands at 9.

The worst year on Northland's roads was 1989, when 55 people died. The record low toll was 7 in 2011.

The officer in charge of the Northland Road Policing Unit, Inspector Wayne Ewers, said it had been a "rough start" to the year. Investigations into Tuesday's crash were continuing, and charges could be laid.

The double-fatality comes just over a month after an American visitor was charged with causing two deaths in another Far North road crash.

US citizen Reiss Martin Berger, 21, and his partner had been in New Zealand on his first visit only hours before that crash about 11pm on April 2.

The impact killed James Hamiora and Yvarn Tepania, who were in the front seats, and injured two others in the back of the car, about 7km south of Kerikeri.