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Names released in National Park crash

New Zealand Police

Thursday 12 July 2012, 4:53PM

By New Zealand Police

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Police have released the names of the four Argentinean nationals tragically killed in a car crash at National Park last night.

The men were:

•       Agustin Donofrio, aged 25 years
•       German Caceres,  aged 35 years
•       Nicolas Ursic, aged 27 years
•       Luciano Pucheta, aged 19 years.

The other occupant of the car, Benjamin Blake who is a Chilean man believed to be in his mid 20s, is in a serious but stable condition in Waikato Hospital’s high dependency unit.

The five men were staying at National Park and working in the local area in the tourism industry.  They had been in Ohakune during the evening playing indoor football and were returning to National Park when the crash occurred.

Inspector Steve Mastrovich, Ruapehu Police Area Commander, said that it appears, from witness accounts that the men’s Holden Commodore station wagon pulled out to pass a truck just north of the Makatote Viaduct and was struck almost immediately by a southbound truck.

Investigations are continuing in order to identify any factors that contributed to the crash.

The truck driver was uninjured.