A 48-year-old man has been named as the person killed in a crash inland of Oamaru on Monday.
Richard Paul Emery, of Kokoamo in the Waitaki, was killed when the car he was driving crashed into a power pole about 8.10pm.
A family member contacted by the Otago Daily Times did not respond yesterday, and a close friend of Mr Emery’s declined to comment.
Police, crews from the Kurow Volunteer Fire Brigade and St John Ambulance attended the single-vehicle crash on State Highway 83 between Taylors Rd and Doveys Rd at Kokoamo near Duntroon, about 40km northwest of Oamaru.
An Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter crew was also called to assist, but was stood down before arriving.
Mr Emery was the sole occupant of the vehicle and died at the scene.
Sergeant Blair Wilkinson, of Oamaru, said the cause of the crash was being investigated by the serious crash unit.
The highway was closed for a time after the crash.
Network Waitaki engineering manager Brad Fleming said the power pole was ‘‘badly damaged’’ in the crash and was replaced yesterday.
The damage initially resulted in about 100 of the Oamaru-based lines company’s customers being without power.
That number dropped to about 30 once the damaged section of line was isolated some time later.
He said the outage lasted between three and four hours. All customers were reconnected by early yesterday.
Contractors returned to the scene yesterday to remove the vehicle.
