A person has died after their car crashed down a steep bank on the Gibbston Valley Highway near Queenstown.
About 25 emergency service personnel attended the scene after the car collided with a van about 10.30am.
It left State Highway 6 and rolled down a bank, before coming to rest on its roof above a roaring Kawarau River in the Nevis Bluff area.
Police confirmed this afternoon that the driver died at the scene. No one else was in that vehicle.
Their conditions were not yet known.
A witness told an ODT reporter the car was on its roof and "one roll away" from being in the water.
The reporter described the river as a "raging torrent" and very high when the accident happened.
Part of SH6 was closed for a time, with traffic backed up right to Gibbston.
But about 2pm, the NZ Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi advised that highway was open under stop/go traffic management and continued delays could be expected.
The serious crash unit was at the scene this afternoon.
Following the incident, a Rahui has been placed on the waterway for 7 days.
The affected area is from the Nevis Bluff SH6 Cromwell Highway to Roaring meg Dam SH6 Cromwell Highway.
No food gathering and or swimming should be carried out on this stretch of water until the 27th of December 2021.
- Staff reporters and ODT Online
