UPDATED 9.36PM There's improvement in the condition of a four-year-old in hospital after a two car crash involving seven people, near Gisborne.

Earlier listed as critical, the little boy is now stable in Gisborne Hospital.

The three others in the same car are also in hospital - two in stable conditions and one serious.

Their car collided head on this morning with another vehicle on Luggate-Cromwell Rd near Te Karaka.

In the other car was a man, woman and child. They are also all in Gisborne Hospital in stable conditions.

An IPCA investigation has been launched because of the involvement of a police vehicle.

Seconds before the crash, it had clocked one of the cars speeding and had pulled out to give chase.

Today, one person also died after their car rolled down a bank and hit a tree in Methven, near Christchurch.

Another person died after a van carrying seven people crashed near Cromwell, in Otago. The six others in the van all went to hospital.

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