WELLINGTON - The Chinese Consulate General in Christchurch confirmed on Thursday that two Chinese tourists were killed in a car crash in New Zealand's South Island on Wednesday evening, another Chinese tourist was injured.

Xiaoyan Chen, from the Chinese Consulate General in Chrischurch, told Xinhua that the two people, a married couple aged in their 50s, were rear-seat passengers when  their car plunged about five metres over the side of a cliff near the Homer Tunnel, not far from Milford.  

The front-seat passenger, a 29-year-old male Chinese national visiting New Zealand, suffered a lung injury which is not life threatening, and is in hospital.

The Chinese Consulate-General is contacting the deceaseds' next of kin.

New Zealand police said the driver, a female Chinese national residing in New Zealand, was uninjured and was helping police with their investigation.

The cause of the single car crash is under investigation. Police said weather and alcohol were not factors in the crash, which happened at a downward hairpin corner about one km from Milford.