Three people are missing after a car crashed off the road into a river in Marlborough overnight.
Emergency services were alerted at 1.45am after the crash at the intersection of State Highway 1 and Bush Road in Tuamarina, just north of Blenheim.
The car had five occupants, and two were able to get out of the car safely. They had moderate injuries and were transported to hospital.
Three other occupants remained unaccounted for, police said.
The Police National Dive Squad arrived at the site this afternoon.
Marlborough Mayor Nadine Taylor said it was not yet known who was in the car or where they were from.
“All we know from police is that there were five in the vehicle, two made it out, and three we presume are still in the vehicle because the dive squad is going in, and talking about shutting the road later today to use a crane to lift the vehicle out.”
A resident who lived near the crash site said the car was submerged in the river around 50m north of the Tuamarina bridge.
The resident said the search team had not yet found the three remaining occupants.
”It’s been 12 hours now,” he said. “It’s not good.”
He said it was the second significant crash on this stretch of road in a few years.
”We had that big truck accident not that long ago. It’s getting quite a name for itself now.”
Seven people were killed in 2022 when the driver of their van crossed the centre line and hit a truck near Mt Pleasant - about 10 minutes’ drive from the Bush Road crash.
One lane of State Highway 1 was closed with traffic management in place, and a full closure may be required at some point today.
Officers were photographed helping to paint protest signs.