Support pours in for family of Hawke’s Bay four-year-old killed in crash north of Dannevirke

The scene where a vehicle left State Highway 2 near Wahipai Reserve, just north of Dannevirke on Friday. A four-year-old boy died in the incident. Photo / Doug Laing

Support is pouring in for the family of a four-year-old boy who died in a crash north of Dannevirke on Friday.

A Givealittle page set up by a friend to support Hawke’s Bay woman Chloe Foster and her family, and cover the funeral costs for her son Dylan, had raised more than $13,000 by Tuesday morning.

Dylan died on Friday when a vehicle left State Highway 2 on a bend near Wahipai Reserve, north of Dannevirke, crashing into a small bank of trees and bushes about 4.20pm.

In a touching tribute on Monday night, Hayley Osterfield, a friend of Dylan’s whānau, wrote on local website Hawke’s Bay App that Dylan was “not just any little boy”.

“Dylan had a curly crop of blonde hair, and blue eyes, and a cheeky smile that would light up those around him,” she wrote.

“He was an old soul who had big dreams of doing everything and going everywhere - all tragically cut short.”

Osterfield said Dylan was travelling to Palmerston North with his dad on Friday when the crash occurred.

She wrote that mum Chloe was struggling to comprehend Dylan’s loss, but that the family were immensely grateful for the outpouring of kindness and support.

The crash was one of three fatal crashes on Hawke’s Bay and Tararua District roads over the long weekend.

A vehicle and a moped collided a few hundred metres to the south of a High St stretch of SH2 between Hospital St and the Dannevirke showgrounds about 9.30am on Saturday.

Police said a person who had been riding the moped was injured and airlifted to hospital, but had died.

A motorcyclist died after crashing into a fence on State Highway 50, north of the Ashcott Rd intersection in Central Hawke’s Bay, about 2.15pm on Monday.