'Kind and caring' 10-year-old girl killed in Napier-Taupo crash named

Monday, 29 June 2020

A ten-year-old girl died after a single car crash on the intersection of Mcvicar road and the Napier-Taupo road (SH5)

Police have released the name of a ten-year-old girl who died on the Napier-Taupo road (State Highway 5) on Sunday June 21.

She was Teang Atauea, of Wairoa who died in Hawke's Bay Hospital on June 23.

She was one of five people injured in the single vehicle crash on the intersection of the Napier-Taupo road and Mcvicar road after 4pm.

* Police appeal for information after Sunday's serious crash on Napier-Taupō road

* Two children in hospital following Hawke's Bay crash

Police said their car hit a tree, and were asking for assistance from people who saw or assisted after the crash.

Eight deaths have now occurred from five separate crashes on the notorious stretch of road between December 2019 and June 2020.

Wairoa Primary School posted a tribute on social media to Teang, saying the tragedy had affected them deeply.

'Those of you who met Teang will remember a kind and caring young lady with a beautiful smile and it is an immense loss to our school whanau that she is no longer with us.'

'The most important thing we can do is to be supportive and encourage discussion about what has happened, the feelings it gives rise to, and ways of responding.'

The school also offered support and sympathy for the Atauea family who were 'still coping with their own injuries from the accident and still have their youngest child in the hospital'.

Enquiries into the circumstances of the latest crash are ongoing.