INVESTIGATION: Emergency services and investigaters at the Dalgety Drv, Manurewa, location where a boy died after being hit with a van.

A three-year-old boy playing in a carpark outside a shop died after a van drove into him in the South Auckland suburb of Manurewa this afternoon.

The accident happened outside Kev's Clothing Emporium in Dalgety Drive just before 2pm.

"The boy was playing around where the shops are and a van, probably about the size of an eight-seater - has driven into him and hit him," said Counties Manukau police spokeswoman Ana-Mari Gates-Bowey.

Neil Holyoake of the Manukau Serious Crash Unit said the driver of the van didn't see the child.

He said the right side of the van struck the boy who was dragged under the vehicle and sustained fatal injures.

The child was taken inside the shop and was still alive when paramedics arrived, but died a short time later.

Emporium manager James Maea said the boy's mother was in the store when the accident happened.

Maea was upstairs from his shop when he heard a "whole lot of people crying" and rushed outside.

He said the boy's mother didn't initially realise it was her child that had been hit.

The driver was interviewed at Manurewa Police Station along with two witnesses while the Serious Crash Unit examined the scene.

The Fire Service cleaned up the accident site.

It was the second time in two months children have been hit by motorists.

Two girls, aged eight and 11, were seriously injured last month after a car crashed into them while they were walking in Manurewa.

Anyone with information relating to the incident should call Counties Manukau police on 09 261 1300.