The crash that closed State Highway 1 between Clinton and Wairuna for most of Friday has claimed a life, with police confirming on Friday evening that one person died at the scene after a car and a tractor collided.

Police said they were first alerted at about 10.55am to the crash on the Waipahi Highway, roughly seven kilometres northwest of Clinton in the Clutha district. In a statement at 5pm they said the person had died where the crash happened and that nobody else was reported hurt. Inquiries into how the collision occurred are continuing.

Police have not released the name, age or home town of the person who died, and have not said whether they were in the car or on the tractor. The statement did not mention the Serious Crash Unit, though the unit routinely attends fatal crashes and its findings go to the coroner.

The Otago Daily Times, which first reported on Friday afternoon that the crash had turned fatal, said a rescue helicopter was among the emergency services sent to the scene. Earlier in the day Hato Hone St John told the NZ Herald a patient in a serious condition had been taken to Dunedin Hospital, and Fire and Emergency sent three crews from Clinton, Gore and Tapanui.

The highway was closed between the Wairuna Siding Road turn-off and the Clydevale Road junction while the scene was examined, with traffic between Gore and Balclutha diverted onto State Highway 93 through Waipahi and Clydevale. Police said at 6.17pm that SH1 between Clinton and Wairuna had reopened, and thanked drivers for their patience. The NZ Transport Agency confirmed the reopening a few minutes later.

The Waipahi Highway, signposted as the Presidential Highway for the two towns it joins, is the main road for Southlanders heading to Balclutha and Dunedin, and carries freight from the Gore district as well as farm machinery moving between properties at this time of year.

It is the third fatal crash on roads in the Southern police district in seven days, after two vehicles collided in the Kawarau Gorge on 30 October and a single-vehicle crash on SH6 at Josephville, between Lumsden and Dipton, on Tuesday. Police on Friday named the Josephville victim as Kararaina (Kara) Aroha Toimata, 30, of Balfour.

The cluster prompted a statement on Friday evening from Southern road policing manager Inspector Craig Brown, who said the three deaths were a tragic and timely reminder for drivers ahead of a busy stretch on the roads. He said the four factors most often behind deaths and serious injuries were speed, seatbelts not being worn, distraction and impairment, and warned that on roads posted above 80km/h without safety barriers a single mistake can end in tragedy. He said police would not tolerate drivers who ignored the rules and put others at risk.

Friday's crash came the day after a separate collision on SH1 near Waihola, south of Dunedin, in which six people were injured; the ODT reported that the driver, an overseas visitor, remained in a critical condition in Dunedin Hospital.

Anyone who saw Friday's crash near Clinton, or who was driving on the Waipahi Highway between Clinton and Wairuna shortly before 11am and has dashcam footage, can contact police on 105. Drivers can check the state of SH1 at journeys.nzta.govt.nz or on 0800 44 44 49.