KEY POINTS:
A third person has died following a head-on collision between a car and two motorcycles near Rotorua yesterday.
A motorcyclist, 37, and his female pillion passenger, 43, died yesterday.
The rider of the second motorcycle, a 33-year-old Papamoa man, died early this morning.
The driver of the car was from Te Puke and is in a critical condition. His three grandchildren were in the car and have moderate to serious injuries.
Rotorua woman Elizabeth Jackson held the Te Puke grandfather's head and calmed his three grandchildren after the crash.
"I told him to keep breathing and that he was doing well," Mrs Jackson told the Daily Post.
Sergeant Brett Cooper said it was not known if the motorcycles were riding side-by-side but they were travelling close.
He said blood tests had been taken from the Te Puke man. "We can't say 'yes or no, alcohol was a factor' until we get the blood results back but it's definitely something we are looking at," he said.
The woman was killed instantly when she was thrown about 80m from one of the motorcycles.
She landed down the bottom of a bank and it took some time for emergency services to find her body.
The 37-year-old also died at the scene after being thrown 10m from the motorcycle on to the road.
Their names were expected to be released today.
The Rotorua-based BayTrust Rescue Helicopter and Tauranga-based TECT Rescue Helicopter landed on the road to pick up the two men.
Mr Cooper said it would be at least two weeks before police completed their investigation and decided whether charges would be laid.
Constable Tony Bennett, of Rotorua, praised the Jacksons and others who stopped to help. They included a paediatrician from Germany and two men from Austria.
The crash happened on State Highway 33, about 4km north of Okere Falls, about midday.
On Saturday, a man died when he lost control of his car in bad weather after an abandoned police chase in New Plymouth.
Michael James Ellicock, 21, was driving a BMW 730I saloon which careered through a fence and crossed a stream before crashing into a tree on St Aubyn St about 12.30am.
- NZPA, DAILY POST
