Staff at the general store Pain & Kershaw in Martinborough are reeling after the loss of one of their employees in a motorcycle crash in Wellington on Sunday afternoon.
Featherston's Natalia Austin, 18, was a passenger on a motorbike driven by Wellington photographer Dee McMahon when they crashed into the concrete median barrier near Wellington's Terrace Tunnel.
Despite efforts of paramedics, both died at the scene. The motorcycle, travelling north out of the city, was the only vehicle involved in the crash, according to police.
Tributes to Natalia have been made on her Facebook page by friends and former schoolmates from Kuranui College, where she finished last year.
She was working as a delicatessen assistant at Pain & Kershaw in Martinborough.