Teen girl killed in crash west of Whangārei

The 17-year-old female passenger in a car died after the car crashed off Kokopu Rd. Photo/File

A teenaged girl has died and three other people were injured after a car rolled off the road and into a paddock west of Whangārei.

The single-vehicle crash happened on Kokopu Rd, near the intersection with Mangakahia Rd at about 9.15pm on Friday.

Police said a 17-year-old Whangārei girl, who was a passenger in the car, died. The driver of the vehicle was airlifted to Auckland Hospital in a serious condition.

Two other passengers received serious and moderate injuries respectively and were taken to Whangārei Hospital. The Police Serious Crash Unit is investigating.

The crash was one of three fatal crashes around the country on Friday. One person died in a single-car crash on Upper Waingawa Rd near Masterton around 6.20pm. Three other people were injured.

Meanwhile a person died on State Highway 2 in the Eastern Bay of Plenty around 4.40pm. The crash involved a car and a ute and happened at the intersection of Bell Rd and SH2 near Nukuhou, east of Whakatane. Three other people received various injuries.

The fatal crash on Kokopu Rd is the third in Northland in the past fortnight and takes Northland's road toll to 28 so far this year.

On October 24 a man died after a two vehicle crash on Gibbons Rd, about 3km from SH1 near Kaiwaka.

The two vehicles had collided head-on on a slight bend of the gravel road. One driver died at the scene.

Only days earlier, on October 20, two women, who were the front seat passengers in their respective vehicles, died after a crash on SH1 near Oakleigh, south of Whangārei.

They were a 42-year-old British woman and a 65-year-old woman from Auckland.

At this time last year, Northland's road toll was 31 after four people had died on the region's roads in three days. A total of 40 people died on Northland roads last year.