KEY POINTS:
A car which crashed yesterday, killing two young friends, was travelling at such speed that it wrapped around a power pole with its front and rear wheels almost touching.
Driver Natalie May Hislop, 22, and her passenger, Marcel Darryl Alexander Campbell (also known as Marcel Darryl Alexander Hebbard), 18, had been flatting together for about three weeks.
The workmates at Hotel-Motel Taieri near Dunedin were understood to have been driving home to their flat after buying cigarettes when the car slammed into a centre island concrete power pole about 3.40am.
They died at the scene and the fire brigade had to cut one of them from the car.
Speed was believed to be a factor in the crash and the road was wet, Senior Sergeant Darryl Lennane of Dunedin said. It was too early to say if alcohol had played a role.
Hotel proprietor Irene O'Brien said: "Marcel loved life to the fullest and lived life to the fullest. They both did. Life was not a bother to them."
Ms Hislop had worked in the bar and kitchen at the hotel for a little less than a year and Mr Campbell had worked as a kitchen-hand for more than a year and was training to be a chef.
Ms Hislop had been a capable worker and was well liked at the hotel, said Ms O'Brien.
"I mean, we've had our moments, but she'll leave a big gap here."
Mr Campbell was a "happy, fun guy", she said.
The hotel had shut its restaurant at lunchtime, as staff were still coming to terms with the news.
"Losing two of our staff this way is really sad. They were part of our family and everyone is just working away, trying to comprehend what has happened."
* A 39-year-old Auckland woman hurrying to catch a flight from Dunedin to Wellington was caught travelling at 155km/h between Green Island and Saddle Hill about 11.45am yesterday.
The woman, on her way to Dunedin airport, was driving a Cherokee V8, said Sergeant Mel Aitken of the Dunedin police strategic traffic unit.
Her licence was suspended immediately for 28 days and she would be charged with dangerous driving.
The officer who stopped the woman escorted her to the airport, Mr Aitken said, but she was too late to catch her plane.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
