Driver comes forward in Hamilton horror crash

The scene of a fatal accident near Hamilton Aiport on State Highway 3. Photo / Supplied

The driver of a red car who police believe may hold key information into a horror crash which claimed four young lives came forward hours after an appeal was made.

Waipa locals Lance Robinson, 28, Hannah Lei Strickett-Craze, 24, Paul De Silva, 20 and 19-year-old Jason McCormick Ross, of Taranaki, were killed after the Nissan Skyline they were travelling in collided with a plumbing van on State Highway 3 between near Hamilton Airport just before 10pm on Friday.

Hamilton CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Daryl Smith, who is leading the investigation, said the woman who stopped at the scene of the crash responded quickly to the police request and was being interviewed this afternoon.

Paul DeSilva died in the crash. Photo / Supplied

But police are still seeking information on a small light-coloured vehicle which was travelling with the vehicle before the fatal crash and which some witnesses say was racing against it.

Mr Smith hoped the woman driver who stopped with her daughter would be able to help put pieces of the jigsaw together, but was still keen on hearing from other witnesses to the crash - even those who may have spoken to police on the night but had not been contacted since.

"We want to know what happened and that's the bottom line. As you know we've got four deceased. We've got a person in hospital who was in another vehicle and has got some significant injuries. We need to know what's occurred for the families. The families need to know. We need to establish who was in the right, who was in the wrong."

Mr Smith said they had a received a huge response from the public following appeals for information including people who had seen things a few days before which they thought might be related or from people who were travelling on SH3 between Hamilton and Te Awamutu prior to the smash.

Hannah Strickett, 24, was one of four people killed in a car crash near Hamilton Airport. Photo / Supplied

There was a significant number of police staff working on particular areas of the investigation including the scene, witnesses and motor vehicles in order to establish what occurred.

Post-mortems were being carried out on the four bodies before they could be returned to their families.

"There's a level of urgency because we want to get some answers for the families. We want to get the deceased back to their families, but at the end of the day we want to ensure we do the investigation correctly and that it's done properly.

"Who knows if there are criminal charges brought -- we need to consider that."