Taupō Mayor David Trewavas says he's "had a gutsful" after another mass-fatality crash near Taupō.
Eight people are dead after a two-car collision in Atiamuri, north of Taupō, on Sunday. A young boy is the only survivor, Police say. He has been taken to hospital with critical injuries.
Earlier this month another fatal crash near Taupō claimed the lives of five people, all from the same family.
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Trewavas says the news of the latest crash is "devastating for the district".
"I've had a gutsful of it. It's just tragic, it's really sad," Trewavas told Newshub.
"How can everyone cope with this situation? It's just three weeks ago we had the five passed away at Tirohanga Rd."
He has promised to offer help to all those impacted by today's horror crash, saying "they need as much support as possible".
"All the services will be available," he told Newshub.
"It's not only the families involved in the actual event, but it's the emergency services, the responders at the scene, the neighbours up the road, the farmers in the district, all that sort of thing. It just affects everyone and they never get over it.
"It sticks in their mind. They wake up at night thinking about this and by what has been reported so far it's not a very nice scene, that's for sure."
Footage shows two vehicles crunched together in the aftermath of the crash. It appears that one vehicle slid over the yellow lines while travelling around a corner and was hit side-on by another vehicle.
The road has been closed for an extended period and the serious crash unit has been notified.
"This particular event happened on a good piece of road," Trewavas says.
"It appears that conditions weren't too bad but we have had a combination of quite humid weather as well as rainfall overnight, so that could be part of the factors here."
Newshub.
