A karakia has been carried out at the Bay of Plenty forestry area where four people died in a crash this morning.
A fifth person was also injured when a logging truck collided with a van along a private forestry road at the intersection of Bonisch Road and Parapara Road in the Kaingaroa Forest at 6.40am.
Bay of Plenty District road policing manager inspector Brent Crowe said members of police, transport operators and some logging truck drivers were present for the Māori incantations and prayers this morning.
Indications were that everyone involved were forestry workers, but Mr Crowe said it was yet to be confirmed.
Large logging trucks often use the road, which is in good order, he said, but added "you certainly have to know what you're doing to drive on this road".
Police were called to the scene in the Kaingaroa Forest just before 7 this morning.
"A van containing five occupants has crashed head-on into a fully-laden logging truck," Mr Crowe said. "Four of those occupants in the van have unfortunately died at the scene with the fifth flown out to a local hospital for treatment for moderate to serious injuries."
He said the driver of the logging truck was uninjured, but "very shaken".
The serious crash unit team is expected to be onsite for the majority of the day.
"At the time of the crash it was reasonably dark, sunrise hadn't occurred and the roading conditions from what we saw appeared to be good."
Four people died at an intersection in the Kaingaroa Forest this morning, and another at Houhou Bridge near Hokitika.
The area is closed to traffic while police investigate the crash, police said in a statement.
Three vehicles from St John attended the scene and a helicopter was dispatched earlier today.
The injured person was taken to Waikato Hospital.
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