﻿A young boy was one of the two people killed in a fatal Christmas Eve bus crash near Gisborne.

Sione Taumololo, 11, and Talita Fifita﻿, 33, were both killed in the crash, police said.

On Sunday morning police confirmed the deaths and several injuries after the bus carrying more than 45 people went through a barrier on State Highway 2 at Wharerata and crashed down a bank, about 30km south of Gisborne, about 10.30pm on Saturday night.

SIMON MAUDE/FAIRFAX NZ 46 people were on board the bus when it crashed.

Those on board were teachers and students from the Tongan Mailefihi Siulikutapu College brass band team on their way to Gisborne's Tongan Methodist Parish to perform on Christmas Day for a fundraising event.

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The group was visiting the country to raise funds for their school in in Vava'u, Tonga, police said.

Twenty-seven people were initially taken to Gisborne Hospital.

By Saturday afternoon six people, aged between 16 and 63-years-old, remained stable in hospital.

A further two were airlifted to Hastings Hospital, communications manager Toni Lexmond said.

A Hawkes Bay Hospital spokeswoman on Sunday afternoon said an 18-year-old man was in a critical condition in intensive care. Another male patient, aged in their 30s, was stable in the general ward.

Others were taken to the St John Ambulance base in Gisborne for medical assessment, police said.

Members from the group not requiring hospitalisation or further treatment were being accommodated by the local Tongan community, Methodist Church, and Victim Support.

Tonga's Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, along with the Minister for Pacific Peoples Alfred Ngaro and Tongan consul Lenisiloti Sitafooti Aho, are travelling to Gisborne this evening to offer support to those involved.

The exact number of passengers on board was yet to be confirmed. Police were in the process of notifying the victims' families.

Emergency services remained at the site of the crash overnight. The road between Wairoa and Gisborne has since reopened, a police spokeswoman said.

The bus had plunged about 100 metres down a steep bank and would be difficult to extract, the police Serious Crash Unit said. Owing to the terrain and lack of available necessary equipment over the Christmas period, it could take a number of days.

VICTIMS KEPT SAYING 'THANK YOU, THANK YOU'

Kristina Williams told Stuff she was one of the first people on the scene, after the church group's organiser, who was travelling in a separate car, went to her house to raise the alarm.

There was no cellphone coverage where the bus crashed and so the organiser, who lives in New Zealand and works on Williams' farm, went to the house to get help.

While some of the household stayed behind to wait for emergency services, others took first aid kits, head torches and boots and headed up to the scene, said Williams, who was also a volunteer lifeguard.

"When we got there there were a few passers-by who had stopped.

"It was pitch black, you could just make out the bus lights down the bank."

It was a treacherous drop down to the bus, she said. Bystanders formed a human chain to help passengers climb to safety. Those who were too injured to move had to wait for emergency services.

"[The victims] were so calm, you could almost hear crickets in the background," she said. "They kept saying: 'Thank you, thank you.' But there wasn't much we could do other than reassure them."

Williams said the group's luggage was strewn around the crash site, and survivors had walked away with little clothing or footwear. People wanting to help could donate to a Givealittle page.

* An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the names and ages of the victims.