Kids in hospital after head-on crash

File photo / NZ Herald

A trio of Napier children are in hospital with injuries including multiple fractures and head trauma after road carnage in the early hours of this morning.

The children were in a northbound stationwagon that collided head-on with a southbound white Honda on State Highway 2, two minutes south of Waipawa in the Hawkes Bay, around 1.45am.

The Honda's sole occupant - a 24-year-old Hastings man - died at the scene.

All five occupants of the other vehicle were taken to hospital by ambulance and were listed in a serious condition in Hawke's Bay Hospital.

Police said they had "various injuries" yet none were thought to be life threatening.

St John District Operations Manager Stephen Smith, who attended the scene, said the northbound car was carrying two families from Napier, including three children estimated to be between nine and 13.

"These were pretty serious injuries," Mr Smith said. Three received multiple leg fractures, one had chest injuries and another had head trauma.

"One of our ambulances was actually transferring a patient from Waipukurau when they came across the accident."

Conditions were fine with no ice on the road, he said.

The collision was the second fatal crash of the night.

In an earlier accident, a 68-year-old man died of injuries sustained when his car left the road and collided with a bank on State Highway 1 south of Greta Valley, north of Christchurch, around 1.28am.

Police from Amberley and the Serious Crash Unit are investigating the cause of the crash.

The state highway has had a single lane opened and motorists can expect delays.