Fatal high-speed Clendon crash: Car 'smashed up' in tunnel

Three people have died in crashes overnight, including one in Auckland where a vehicle ploughed through a fence and ended up wedged inside a tunnel.

Police said two people died in the Auckland crash which happened at the intersection of Weymouth Rd and Palmers Rd at 12.35am.

The road remains closed and Police ask motorists to avoid the area as inquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.

Emergency service workers had to cut the occupants from the car. Photo Hayden / Woodward

A man who was at the scene in Clendon shortly after it happened believed the car was travelling at high speed before crashing.

"It's all smashed up... I don't think anyone could have survived a crash like that," he said.

The man said emergency services could be seen removing people from the car.

"Emergency services had to cut the vehicles and the bodies were removed."

The crash occurred just hours after one person died following a single-car accident near Mangawhai, Northland.

Emergency services were called to the crash on Devich Rd at about 11.35pm last night.

"The road was closed for a period as contractors repaired power lines that had come down but was reopened at about 5am," police said in a statement.

Inquiries into the circumstances of the crash are continuing.

Meanwhile, emergency services are this morning attending a serious single-vehicle crash on the Hutt Road by the Hutt Rd on-ramp.

Police were notified at 6.35am.

Both lanes are blocked and motorists are asked to avoid the area.