A motorcyclist is dead after a crash near Ōpōtiki in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
The accident on State Highway 35 between Te Waiiti and Maraenui Pa Rds was reported to police at 8.25pm Friday.
“The motorcyclist was critically injured in the crash and tragically passed away a short time later,” a police spokesperson said.
“Inquiries into the circumstances of the crash are underway.”
The incident comes after a person died when their vehicle rolled on a rural property near Tīrau late Thursday afternoon, and the death of the sole occupant of a vehicle that crashed in Central Hawke’s Bay just after 11pm on Wednesday.
Eight people were also injured, one critically and a second seriously, after a two-vehicle crash near Rotorua late Thursday.
The two with the most serious injuries were flown to hospital, with a critically ill patient airlifted to Waikato Hospital and a seriously ill patient taken to Tauranga Hospital, a Hato Hone St John spokesperson said.