Police have confirmed a third person has died following a serious two-vehicle crash near Christchurch overnight.
The crash on Sunday night is the second fatal crash in three days following a collision between a school bus and a car on Friday afternoon.
Police confirmed on Monday morning two people died in the crash on Main North Road in the suburb of Sefton on Sunday evening.
Hato Hone St John told Newshub they transported one patient to Christchurch Hospital by ambulance in a critical condition from the crash.
The Serious Crash Unit was notified of the two-vehicle crash, which occurred around 6:50pm on Sunday.
Police said the road is now open.
In an update later on Monday morning, police confirmed the death of the third person.
Police said one person in each vehicle died at the scene, while a third person – a second occupant of one of the vehicles – was taken to hospital with critical injuries.
"That person sadly died in Christchurch Hospital overnight," a police spokesperson said.
This latest crash comes just days after two people died in another serious crash involving a school bus and a car in Waimakariri on Friday afternoon.
The crash on Friday also occurred near Sefton, at the intersection of Broad and Harleston roads, shortly after 3:30pm.
Police confirmed two occupants of the car died at the scene and there were no reports of serious injuries to anyone on the school bus.
Canterbury Rural Area Commander Inspector Peter Cooper said the five families' lives have been turned upside down in the space of a weekend.
"This is an incredibly sad blow to not only the families of the deceased but to all those affected in a small community - which includes the attending emergency services, some of whom would have attended both crashes," he said.
While the exact causes of the crashes remain under investigation, Cooper said there were poor weather conditions in the area at the time of Sunday's crash.
"It's a very sad reminder to people of the importance of taking care every single time you get behind the wheel."
Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney told RNZ six of their students were onboard the bus and one of them was in hospital for a precautionary checkup.
The others were okay and had gone home, Kearney said.
"We have already contacted every single one of those students and the other 10 students that were normally on the bus and we have offered them support, acknowledged what's happened, and come Monday, when we come back to school, we will have a plan in place to support those young people as they journey through this traumatic incident."
The district's mayor Dan Gordon told NZ Herald the crashes are "very sad news" that no community or family would want to hear.
"They're traumatic incidents, there's been a loss of life and will be an enquiry but my thoughts are with the family and those who lost loved ones," Gordon said.
"It's something distressing for any family and community."
He described the Sefton community as "caring" and expects everyone to rally around each other with support.
"Our emergency services are locals in the community so it's obviously traumatic for them to turn out to incidents like this where there's loss of life."
