Five people, including some children, have been taken to hospital after a serious crash near Whakatane on Sunday afternoon.
One person, who is in a critical condition, was airlifted to Tauranga Hospital.
Ambulance crews were called to the two car-crash on the Rangitoki Bridge, near Thornton, just before 1.45pm.
Emergency crews have been unable to confirm how many of the injured are children, but say two people had to be cut free from the vehicles.