Police have described New Zealand's roads as "killing fields" after 11 people were killed in crashes this Anzac weekend.
Five people were killed in a horror smash north of Taupo on Friday afternoon and six others died in separate accidents over the weekend.
National Road Policing manager, Superintendent Paula Rose, said it was horrifying to have so many fatalities in one weekend and she described the roads as "killing fields".
It was tragic enough when there were just one or two deaths during a regular weekend, she told Radio New Zealand.
Speed appeared to have been a factor in some of the accidents, she said.
The worst crash happened when a van and a car collided on State Highway 1, at Oruanui, about 17km north of Taupo, about 4pm, Friday.
Road policing manager for Bay of Plenty, Senior Sergeant Stu Nightingale, told NZPA it appeared the car had shunted a BMW before losing control, crossing the centre line and colliding head-on with the van.
The van burst into flames and four people inside were killed: Georgina Taitapanui, 45, her daughter Anna Marie Kemp, 22; her adopted son Ratapu, three; and Anna Marie's partner Wellis Lauano, 23.
Nine-year-old Kawana Kemp and three-year-old Amethyst Lauano were pulled from the burning wreck by an off-duty police officer.
The driver of the car, Peter De Wildt Pie, 42, was killed and his 11-year-old daughter Kirstin-Leigh was seriously injured.
Kawana was today in a serious but stable condition in intensive care and Kirstin-Leigh was in a stable condition in the children's ward in Waikato Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Mr Pie's wife Denise said in a statement today her deepest sympathies went out to the families involved in the crash.
"I'd just like to say that I'm terribly, terribly sorry for what happened." She thanked everyone involved, including the off-duty police officer who rescued the children.
"What he did was so, so courageous." On Friday evening Terrence John Schwass, 73, died after a two-car collision in Nelson and about 9.30pm yesterday a 29-year-old man was killed after crashing into a power pole on Tangimoana Rd, south of Bulls.
The four other fatal accidents happened in the Auckland area.
The latest was about 8.30am today when a man was killed and two others seriously injured in a crash on SH1, about 10km north of Wellsford.
About 1.30am yesterday, a 45-year-old was killed instantly after losing control of his four-wheel-drive and crashing into a power pole on Waitakere Rd, Taupaki. At 10.45am yesterday a woman was killed in a three-vehicle crash on SH17, just north of the Albany Village.
Shortly before 8pm yesterday a car carrying four people collided with a tree on Lynwood Rd, Kelston, killing a man in his 20s.
Sergeant Mark Oliver of central police communications said there were a lot of vehicles on the road because tomorrow was the start of the new school term.
