KEY POINTS:
A New Zealand woman remained seriously ill in Royal Darwin Hospital last night after being cut free from the wreck of a four-wheel-drive tour vehicle that rolled in a national park.
The woman's husband was killed in the accident, which also injured the driver and another seven passengers.
Police said they were waiting for permission from the New Zealand victims' next-of-kin before releasing names or other details.
The death in Kakadu National Park - a 19,000sq km World Heritage listed area whose borders begin about 120km east of Darwin - raised new concerns over the Northern Territory's climbing road toll.
Police said the fatality had taken the Territory's road toll this year to 35 - 12 more than at the same time last year - and that several tourists had been killed in recent years.
It is believed that shortly before 11am on Wednesday a tyre blew on a 4WD Toyota Troop Carrier, making it run off the road and roll on the Kakadu Highway 22km south of Cooinda, between Jabiru and and Pine Creek.
Unconfirmed reports said it appeared the New Zealand man may not have been wearing a seatbelt, as he had been thrown from the vehicle.
His wife had been trapped in the Troop Carrier for more than an hour after the accident was discovered by park rangers, who called medical and emergency crews from Jabiru.
Emergency workers used jaws-of-life cutting equipment to free the woman, who was flown in a critical condition to Darwin.
A hospital spokeswoman said the 61-year-old woman had suffered chest injuries and was in a stable condition after being moved from the intensive care unit to the high dependency unit.
Another woman flown to Darwin was also in a stable condition in the high dependency unit, with fractures and lacerations.
The driver, another female passenger, two German tourists in their 40s and their 21-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter were also taken to hospital.
The spokeswoman said two people remained in the orthopaedic ward for surgery today and the others had been discharged on Wednesday night after treatment for minor injuries.
