A young man was killed when the off-road buggy he was in crashed in a dry bed of the Waimakariri River this afternoon.
A police spokesman it was unclear how the vehicle had crashed but the man, thought to be in his early 20s, was dead by the time emergency services arrived shortly before 4pm.
The area, near Christchurch, was popular with off-road motorists who used a network of dirt tracks and jumps.
Ambulance southern communications centre spokesman John Sneesby said the vehicle was a type of dune buggy or go-cart used for off-road driving.
It was thought the vehicle had rolled, he said.
