The two men, the only occupants of their vehicle, were reportedly traveling to dinner when they crashed into an oncoming vehicle. Local authorities said they died on impact. It was not clear which man was driving.

A female passenger in the other vehicle also was killed in the accident and two other occupants were hurt, Bills said.

No other information was available from LDS Church officials Friday.

KIFI-TV, the ABC affiliate in Pocatello, reported that Isle had attended Brigham Young University before leaving in October for his LDS mission. Isle is the brother of a producer who works for KIFI, the station's Web site reported.

Isle's body was to arrive in Las Vegas sometime next week, according to KIFI's Web site.

Additional information was reported in today's edition of The Timaru Herald. The New Zealand newspaper said speed likely was a factor in the crash and that the female victim was an elderly woman.

The accident occurred at 5:10 p.m. Friday, New Zealand time, on Waitohi-Temuka Road near the community of Temuka, according to the paper. It quoted Temuka Police Sgt. Paul Scoble as saying the missionaries' vehicle was traveling at high speed on a straight stretch of road and then crossed over the center line and hit a vehicle with three occupants.

The car occupied by Isle and Talmadge "burst into fire and set alight a gorse fence and long grass on the roadside," the newspaper reported.

The other vehicle, a Nissan, was moved away from the fire by the first people to arrive on the scene, the paper said.

The Herald said the elderly woman who died was sitting in the front passenger seat of that car. The driver and backseat passenger were taken to Timaru Hospital with serious injuries.

The paper said there were no witnesses to the accident but that a fire ball sparked by the impact was seen from four kilometers away. The road was closed for six hours as a result of the crash.

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E-mail: zman@desnews.com; jdougherty@desnews.com