3.00pm
Three people were killed and one person badly injured in a car accident that went undiscovered for three days.
Senior Constable Keith Shipston from Cheviot police said the vehicle left Kaikoura on Saturday but the travellers, believed to be Asian, were not reported missing until yesterday.
A highway patrol looking for the missing car discovered the wreckage off State Highway 1 near Cheviot, about 70km southwest of Kaikoura, about 10am today.
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter was among emergency services to attend the crash site and the survivor was airlifted to Christchurch Hospital.
A spokesman for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, Simon Duncan, said the man was unconscious during the flight.
The service was called at about 10.10am to the accident site, about 1.2km north of the Hurunui River Bridge on State Highway 1.
"I understand that the group was heading south to Christchurch on Saturday after a whale-watching expedition in Kaikoura," he told NZPA.
"The car left the road, went through a fence and over a bank, so it was completely invisible from the road."
There were four people on board, two men in the front seat and two women in the back.
The male front-seat passenger was the only survivor.
It appeared as though the driver had been killed instantly when the car ploughed head-on into a willow tree, he said.
"I don't know whether the female passengers would've died straight away."
The wreckage was discovered by a highway patrol, when an officer spotted a hole in the fence and went to investigate.
- NZPA
Crash survivor spends three days in wreckage
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