Canterbury fatalities: Three dead following crashes in Greta Valley, Albury

• Two people died in a crash at Greta Valley, Canterbury at 7.15pm yesterday.
• One died in Albury, Canterbury, inland from Timaru, at 9.20pm yesterday.
• One person died and 20 were injured in a tour bus crash in Kingston, Queenstown, on the Devil’s Staircase, SH6.

Three people are dead following two separate crashes in Canterbury.

Emergency services responded to a serious crash on State Highway 1 at Greta Valley just before 7.15pm yesterday.

Two people died in the crash, police confirmed this morning.

A police spokesman said the Serious Crash Unit had done a scene examination but inquiries into the circumstances of the crash were ongoing.

SH1 was closed after the crash but has since reopened.

It happened near Stonyhurst Rd – about 35km north of the Waipara township.

Police also confirmed a person died in a separate crash in Albury, about 81km from Timaru, last night.

Emergency services were called to the Cave-Albury Rd just after 9.20pm. The Serious Crash Unit has done a scene examination and inquiries into the circumstances are also ongoing.

Including another crash in Kingston, near Queenstown, three people have died on the South Island’s roads within 12 hours.

One person was killed in a tour bus crash on the Devil’s Staircase, State Highway 6, yesterday afternoon. Twenty people were injured.