A witness to this morning's horrendous crash in South Canterbury that killed three people, believed to be Chinese tourists, says overseas visitors need to be warned about the dangers of back country gravel roads.
Five other people were injured in the head-on collision between a van and a ute along a popular unsealed detour about 15 minutes drive from Tekapo. Emergency services were called to the scene on Braemar Rd at about 10.55am.
1 NEWS has been told the van involved was a rental with tourists on board, while in the ute there was a crew of forestry workers working at a nearby logging site.
Hamish Mackenzie, one of the first people on the gruesome scene, described it as "catastrophic".
"One of the guys that came over to me that was in the crash had blood on his head. And he said that things weren't good and there were a few deceased people and I wouldn't be getting past there anytime soon," he told 1 NEWS.
The smash left three people dead and survivors were cut from the wreckage. Five were injured, three of them seriously. They were flown to Dunedin Hospital.
"I've certainly seen crashes before, but nothing anywhere near to this extent," Mr Mackenzie said.
The crash happened on a shingle road, a popular scenic route near Lake Pukaki.
"With the increased tourist numbers we're getting in this country, these gravel roads deserve a lot of respect to drive on them. And it's scary to think that tourist numbers are only going to increase," Mr Mackenzie said.
"It just hits home that these sorts of things can happen anywhere. And you're not really used to it happening right at your doorstep.
"It's not worth seeing and going through this sort of tragedy. It's bloody horrific," he said.
The tragedy has prompted police to issue a warning to motorists, urging them to drive to the conditions.
The Serious Crash Unit is now investigating.
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