Holiday season fatalities

One man died and another was seriously injured after a car left State Highway 83 just east of the Otekaieke River bridge early yesterday and crashed into a stock underpass.

The woman killed in a Christmas Eve car crash in Mosgiel knew the driver of a car she was understood to have been following at the time of the crash, Dunedin police said yesterday.

The holiday road toll stood at one last night with the death of 31-year-old man in Waikato early yesterday.

Fatigue-related crashes double during the holiday season and police are asking drivers to make sure they are rested after the hustle and bustle of Christmas before driving.

One person will die and 10 others will be seriously injured in vehicle crashes on roads south of the Waitaki River this festive season.

The Easter weekend road toll has risen to six after the death of a motorcyclist following an accident yesterday.

The Easter road toll stands at five after four crashes in the top half of the North Island during the first 24 hours of the holiday period.

The holiday road toll now stands at 26, after a man died on Friday from injuries sustained during the holiday period.

Five days after promising young league player Sonny Fai disappeared in heavy surf off a west Auckland beach, his family and league friends refuse to abandon the search for his body.

A 50-year-old man who lost two daughters in a horrific south Auckland house fire on Tuesday which claimed four lives has been taken off the critical list.