-A woman has died and a man is critically injured following a crash in Wanganui this morning.
The 33-year-old woman was a passenger in the car, which lost control and smashed into a tree on Papaiti Rd, around 6km northeast of Wanganui, shortly before 1am, police said.
She died on impact, said Senior Sergeant Marc Clausen of the police central communications centre.
The 22-year-old man was the driver of the vehicle. He was flown to Wanganui Hospital by the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter in a critical condition.
They were the only occupants in the car.
"The circumstances surrounding the cause of the crash are not known and will be the subject of an investigation by the Serious Crash Unit and Wanganui CIB," Mr Clausen said.
"The road was closed for several hours while the crash was cleared and a scene examination was carried out. The road opened again around 4am."
