Death of elderly man takes Christmas road toll to five

A 79-year-old mid-Canterbury man has died in a Blenheim hospital following a car accident on Christmas Eve, taking the holiday weekend road toll to five.

William Storey Bland, of Rakaia Huts, died in Wairau Hospital yesterday morning after being admitted on Friday night when his car hit a clay bank about 10.10pm, Senior Sergeant Ciaran Sloan of Blenheim police said today.

Mr Bland was travelling alone from Christchurch to Richmond when his car crashed on State Highway 1 at Welds Pass, about 10km south of Blenheim, he told NZPA.

A post mortem examination will be conducted on Mr Bland's body.

Blenheim police would like to hear from any witnesses to the crash.

Six-year-old South Auckland twins Amanda and Cindy Su and their five-year-old sister Sarah died on Christmas Day after their family van crashed over a five-metre bank on State Highway 3 about 2km south of the Awakino Tunnel in North Taranaki.

The Nissan Serena van landed upside-down in the swollen Awakino River but four other members of the Pukekohe family -- the girls' mother, 11 and 13-year-old sisters and another relative -- managed to free themselves and reach the riverbank.

The accident closed the road for almost four hours as emergency services from Mokau, Urenui, New Plymouth and Waikato attempted to reach the missing children.

A man died in the Auckland suburb of Otara early Sunday morning after his car hit a power pole.

Witness said the driver lost control of the speeding car which crashed off the road and onto a grass verge, before flipping over and hitting the pole about 1am.

The man died at the scene and a female passenger was taken to hospital.

The man's name has not been released.

- NZPA