Tongan workers' deaths continue to have lasting impacts

Relatives of the Aongatete Coolstore workers (front l-r) Hamilton Teulaka and Lusi Taukatelata, (back l-r) Teisina Vaipulu, Soselini Taukatelata, and Fisiinaua Vaipulu. Photo/Andrew Warner.

"Every day when we come in and out of the front gate, we see everything that happened that night."

That's how one family member describes the lingering anguish that followed the tragic deaths of five workers at Aongatate Coolstore.

Soselini Taukatelata, the sister-in-law of one the men who died, Samuela Taukatelata, 28, still works at the coolstore alongside several other relatives of the crash victims.

"It is really hard for all of us to work here just a few steps from where they were killed.
I was there that night and was one of the first on the scene.

"We still struggle every day and it's very hard to move on as the pain never goes away."

Soselini said they were thankful for all the support and kindnesses they had received from the community, the packhouse staff and management.

Sione Teulaka, 21, Halani Fine, 28, Sitiveni Vaipulu, 44, and his eldest son Koli Vaipulu, 21, were also killed after their car collided with a logging truck on State Highway 2 as they headed home from work on August 2, 2016.

Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend after a memorial service at the coolstore on Wednesday night, family members of the men struggled to describe their loss and anguish.

The crash took a huge toll on two families as it not only claimed the lives of father and son Sitiveni aka Steven and Koli but Mr Vaipulu's brothers-in-law Samuela and Sione.

Samuela, who was survived by his widow and three children aged 2, 8, and 10, was married to the sister of Sione Teulaka.

Lusi Taukatelata wept as she sat in the memorial garden built on the coolstore site awash with a huge carpet of flowers and five memorial stones adorned with photos of each of the five men who lost their lives that fateful night.

Lusi, speaking in Tongan, also revealed there had been another major loss in the Taukatelata family in past year after her mother passed away on December 19.

"It's been a very hard year for all of us and the feelings of pain and hurt just never goes away," she said.

Sione Teulaka's 21-year-old brother Hamilton Teulaka, who also works at the packhouse, said he struggled to put into words how he felt.

"The pain I feel deepens and deepens every day, and it's something I can never forget and I struggle to even understand why this even happened," he said.

Sitiveni (Steven) Vaipulu had worked at the coolstore for several years to support his family back in Tonga.

In March, his two teenage sons Fisiinaua Vaipulu, 19, and his 17-year-old Teisina came to take his and Koli's places at the coolstore so they could continue to send money back to their mother and two sisters Olive, 16, and 11-year-old Susana.

With tears flowing Fisiinaua described his and his brother's feelings of loss, and the huge responsibility they also felt in taking over the roles of family providers.

They shed many tears over the past year, and would continue to do so, Fisiinaua said.

"It's really hard as we still feel the pain very deeply, and it's something we can never let go. We want to do our very best by trying to follow in the footsteps of our father and brother and do what they would expect us to do, " he said.

Aongatete Coolstore packhouse manager Clive Exelby said the memorial service, which was attended by 220 to 230 people, had been cathartic.

"They say time heals but although the feelings of loss will never go away it has helped with the healing process by paying tribute to these men, both here and in Tonga."

Mr Exelby said the five men's families were continuing to receive support. Company director Allan Dawson and his wife were due to make another visit to Tonga in December.