Family speak after five killed in crash near Taupō
Monday, 1 April 2019
Extended family of five killed in a crash north of Taupō are gathering at their marae to embrace each other in grief.
Family spokespeople Taihakoa Maui and Tohu Haa fought back tears as they spoke to media outside Mokai Marae in Tirohanga Rd where family are set to gather over the coming days.
The marae, which is preparing for its largest tangi ever, is just kilometres from where five of its own were killed on Tirohanga Rd, near Atiamuri, when their car hit a tree at 7.40am on Monday.
Haa said the family was not yet ready to reveal the identities of those killed due to some family members still learning of their deaths, but he said the grief was 'intense'.
**READ MORE
* Nine dead in three crashes on Monday
* Three people dead and another critically injured in Ashburton crash**
'Every single person in [the car] was a special person. Losing one was bad enough but to lose five.
'This anguish and crying within is going to carry on for ages.
'Five is just unbelievable,' he said.
Nine people died in car crashes across the country on Monday.
Maui said he was struggling to come to grips with what happened.
'I cried, I cried for my cousins and my uncle.
'[My uncle] has been sharing some moving and inspirational posts on Facebook in the last two weeks on his road to recovery and it is sad that he didn't get to see that right to the end.
'I have been pondering [how to cope] all day,' he said.
He said gathering with family at the marae would help them through.
'The marae is a great place for these situations, for people who are down and out.
'You are embraced by the people, it is the perfect place,' he said.
Maui said family around the world were grieving.
'Although it has just happened this morning the message has travelled far and wide.
'It was just a mountain and ocean of emotions,' he said.
An 11-year-old boy was the sole survivor of the crash which killed three women and two men.
He was freed and transferred to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition, a statement from the Waikato Westpac and Greenlea rescue helicopters said.
Speaking from the scene earlier on Monday Senior Sergeant Fane Troy confirmed that the dead were all from the same family.
He said the road conditions at the time were dry of the crash.
'What I can say is that not all the occupants in the vehicle were wearing seatbelts,' Troy said.
He said it was a 'traumatic' scene for all involved.
Troy urged drivers to drive to the conditions after a 'horror weekend' on roads throughout New Zealand.
'We encourage all drivers on rural roads to drive to the conditions. Just because the speed limit says 100kmh it does not mean it is a safe speed to travel.
'It is traumatic for all emergency services but not just emergency services, also for those people that come across the scenes.
'Our hearts go out to the families though, they are the ones this is going to hurt the most,' he said.
He made mention of a separate incident involving a police vehicle nearby.
'It was at the crash scene, but it is nothing to do with the crash itself.'
Troy would not go into too much detail about the second incident except to say it was to do with a 'volatile' situation they were involved in.
However, it was not a police case, he said.
'It was a stationary police vehicle that has been struck by another vehicle.' No-one was injured.
Nine people died on Monday in three separate crashes.
Three people died in a crash in Ashburton, while a man has died after his car plunged into water near Auckland Airport.
THREE DIE NEAR ASHBURTON
Three people died and another is critically injured following a two-car crash near Ashburton.
Emergency services were called to the crash at the intersection of Mitcham Rd and Hepburns Rd, north of Ashburton, just after 10am on Monday.
A police spokesman said two children and an adult had died in the crash.
He said initial reports suggested they were all travelling in the same car.
The roads around the crash site were closed while emergency services worked at the scene.
'Motorists are asked to take alternative routes where possible,' a police spokeswoman said.
St John spokesman Gerard Campbell said two ambulances and a rescue helicopter from Christchurch had been sent to the scene.
FATAL CRASH NEAR AIRPORT
A man died after his car went into water near Auckland Airport.
A police spokeswoman said police received a report about 1.15am on Monday of a vehicle going into the water at the intersection of Tom Pearce Dr and Puhinui Rd.
The man had been in a critical condition in Middlemore Hospital, but had since died, police confirmed just after midday.
'Police would like to acknowledge the members of the public who were first on the scene and put aside their personal safety to try and assist the man.'
An Auckland Airport spokesman said the crash did not involve any of its staff.
The crash was being investigated by the Counties Manukau Serious Crash Unit.