KEY POINTS:
Police today named a youth killed when the car he was in crashed at Himatangi, in Horowhenua, on Saturday afternoon.
Sergeant John May named him as 17-year-old Thomas Alan Raffaelli, of Dannevirke.
He died when the Honda Integra he was in hit a concrete power pole head on on Himatangi Beach Road, with the impact half ripping it from the ground.
Power had to be disconnected before help could be given.
A 17-year-old girl suffered serious internal and facial injuries and remained in a stable condition in Palmerston North Hospital, while an 18-year-old youth was released from hospital yesterday.
Mr May said it was not clear who was driving.
"There were a number of witnesses to the accident, which occurred on a straight piece of road, and police inquiries into the cause of the accident are continuing," he said.
Police hoped to release later today the names of a man and a woman killed when their car crossed the centre line and hit a northbound 4WD on State Highway 1 in South Waikato, between Putaruru and Tokoroa, late yesterday morning.
The person in the 4WD was admitted to Tokoroa Hospital with moderate injuries.
The fourth person to die on the roads at the weekend was a man whose car crashed in Tauranga at 9.20pm yesterday.
Inspector Matt Sillars, of Tauranga police, said the man's car was the only one involved in the crash, and he died at the scene.
Two others in the car were hurt but their injuries were not believed to be life threatening.
- NZPA
