KEY POINTS:
Two pre-schoolers were among family members in a van which went out of control near Reporoa on Saturday, killing their mother.
The woman was an Australian tourist, in the country with her husband, 19-month-old son, 4-year-old daughter and two other family members and a friend who live in Auckland.
The children were admitted to Rotorua Hospital for observation and the four other survivors were treated for minor cuts and bruises.
The woman was one of five people who died on New Zealand roads on Saturday.
A sixth person died yesterday.
Constable Tony Bennett of the Rotorua police said the first crash happened about 5.30pm on State Highway 5, 42km southeast of Rotorua.
The seven people had stayed in Wellington on Friday night and were to stay in Rotorua on Saturday.
Mr Bennett said the only person who wasn't wearing a seatbelt was the woman who died.
"It's just another case where wearing a seatbelt could have saved a life."
He said the family had made arrangements for the dead woman to be taken back to Australia.
He said speed and alcohol were not factors in the crash.
The weather was dry and there was light traffic.
The driver lost control on a moderate bend.
State Highway 5 was closed between Reporoa Rd and Settlers Rd for about three hours while the Serious Crash Unit investigated.
Yesterday, in Taupo, police had been contacted about 1.30pm after concern a family member had failed to return from a delivery run she was making.
Constable Mark Bond said police found the van, by retracing the woman's delivery route, about 1km east of State Highway 1.
Mr Bond said it appeared the woman, 57, lost the control of her light van and crossed the centre line near the Terraces Hotel.
The van slid across the grass verge on the side of the road then fell down a deep gully.
On Saturday, five people died in four accidents within 13 hours of each other, the first occurring at 4.50am, near Eketahuna, and the last about 5.30pm, near Rotorua.
A man died near Eketahuna about 4.50am after his car collided with a courier truck on State Highway 2, 3km south of the Rangitikei town.
South Africans Brent Coombes, 39, and his wife Renee, 35, were killed when their car hit a train at the Ohingaiti rail crossing on State Highway 1, 34km southwest of Taihape, at 7.45am.
Near Darfield, in Canterbury, 12-year-old Alicia Maree Biggs, from Brisbane, was killed when the car she was travelling in with her father and a family friend slid off the road and rolled.
The accident, about 11am, was on State Highway 77, near the intersection with Zigzag Rd.
Police said it appeared the vehicle had hit a patch of ice on the road and went out of control.
The other two occupants in the vehicle received minor injuries.
