One person is dead and 13 are hurt after a bus carrying foreign tourists crashed in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — One person is dead and 13 others were rushed to New Zealand hospitals after a bus carrying international tourists collided with two other vehicles on a rural highway Wednesday.

The ambulance service said two people were in critical condition and four others seriously hurt, with the rest moderately injured, after the crash in the Waikato region of the North Island.

The cause of the three-vehicle collision was not known. It happened on a straight stretch of highway during good weather conditions.

New Zealand’s police confirmed that a small bus carrying 11 international tourists and their driver was involved in the crash. There were three people in the other two vehicles.

Officials would not say what countries the tourists were from, or which vehicle the person who died was travelling in. The injured people were transported to hospitals across the North Island air and road, according to St John Ambulance.

The road is closed at the crash site, on a rural highway 50 km (31 miles) from the city of Hamilton.

Tourist buses have been involved in fatal crashes on New Zealand’s state highways, which are often narrow and winding, before. In one of the worst episodes, a bus flipped in rainy conditions north of Rotorua on the North Island in 2019, killing five tourists from China.

In 2008, eight tourists and their driver were killed when their bus hit a logging truck.

Graham-McLay is an Associated Press reporter covering regional and national stories about New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands by putting them in a global context. She is based in Wellington.