Police have revealed the name of the man who died after his ute crashed down a steep bank on the Gibbston Valley highway (State Highway 6), near Queenstown, yesterday.
Police said Amon James Saunders (39), of Alexandra, died in two-car the crash which happened about 10.30am.
About 25 emergency services personnel attended the scene after the ute and a van collided.
The ute left SH6 and rolled down a bank, before coming to rest on its roof above a roaring Kawarau River in the Nevis Bluff area.
Police confirmed the driver died at the scene. No-one else was in that vehicle.
A witness told an Otago Daily Times reporter the ute was on its roof and "one roll away" from being in the water.
A woman from Wellington, who did not want to be named, said she and her partner were staying at a house in Gibbston, when they saw a cloud of dust by the bluff and vehicles stopping.
Both members of the New Zealand Defence Force and trained first-aiders, they drove to the scene to "lend a hand".
She checked the condition of the two young women in the Toyota van, one of whom was trapped.
They were both "bloodied", but conscious and able to speak.
She and her partner had then scrambled down the bank to the partly submerged Toyota Hilux, where the male driver was trapped inside, she said.
Emergency service responders took over shortly after the pair arrived.
Police said two people from the van, one with serious and one with moderate injuries, were taken to Lakes District Hospital.
"We would also like to acknowledge the courageous actions of those who were first on the scene and climbed down the bluff face - at great personal risk to themselves - in order to provide first aid to Amon," police said.
Part of SH6 was closed for a time, and traffic backed up to Gibbston. It reopened about 2pm.
The police serious crash unit is investigating.
Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku placed a rāhui on the waterway from the Nevis Bluff to the Roaring Meg, for seven days.
No food gathering or swimming should be done on the stretch of water until December 27.
