Car ripped in two at 120km/h

Speeds of more than 120km/h were last night blamed for two young men being killed when their car crashed head-on into another vehicle on State Highway 1 near Taupo.

The sole occupant of the other car, a 55-year-old Taupo woman, was seriously injured in the crash, which happened 5km north of the Wairakei geothermal resort area just after 1pm yesterday.

The young men, one aged 19 and the other in his early 20s, were killed instantly when their late-1970s Datsun failed to take a bend while travelling south, police said.

The force of the collision tore the car in two.

The dead men, both from Waiouru, were the sole occupants of the Datsun. Their names will be released at midday after next-of-kin have been notified.

Their fathers were last night driving to Taupo to identify their bodies, police said. The sons would be named after they had been formally identified.

The woman sustained serious chest and pelvic injuries and was flown to Waikato Hospital in the Lion Foundation rescue helicopter. She was in a stable condition last night.

Senior Constable Peter Sowter of Taupo said the Datsun was travelling at more than 120km/h and possibly as fast as 140km/h just before the crash.

"It is clear that the Datsun was totally out of control and sliding sideways before the collision."

He said the two men would not have died had the driver stuck to the 100km/h limit.

"If they had been doing 100, I can tell you now they would have made it around the corner. They would have carried on and they would have gone home."

The bend where the accident happened was not sharp, he said.

"The corner could quite easily be taken at 120km/h and they were going faster than that."

The victim of a fatal crash at the same spot about five years ago was going 140km/h.

Glass from the Datsun's windows was found on a hill 50m from the crash site, suggesting the vehicle may have been going as fast.

Mr Sowter said it was frustrating to see basic road safety messages about speed being ignored with such tragic results.

"It's just senseless," he said.

An innocent woman had been hurt and the young men's families would be grieving.

"Everybody is going to go through this horrible mess that these things cause."

State Highway 1 was closed for four hours while emergency services cleared the scene. Traffic was diverted along the nearest northbound road.

Taupo police want to talk to anyone who saw the southbound blue/purple Datsun on State Highway 1 between noon and 1pm yesterday.