The Tongan band members killed in a tragic Christmas Eve crash are farewelled at a memorial service in Auckland tonight.
Wounded survivors were among crowds that gathered at a memorial service tonight for two Tongan band members killed in a tragic Christmas Eve bus crash.
Student Sione Taumalolo, 11, and Talita Moimoi Fifita, 33, were killed when a bus carrying the Mailefihi Siu'ilikutapu College brass band crashed 100 metres downa bank in Gisborne.
Mourners were spilling out of the Methodist Church in Grey Lynn as they gathered to remember those lost and support the survivors of the accident.
A member of Auckland's Tongan community, who did not want to be named, said: "We are all so happy to be here to remember their lives."
One of three ministers who conducted the service in Tongan referred to the victims as the "Aotearoa two".
About 40 band members, some wearing black and others in their school uniform, played with the few instruments they could salvage from the wreckage of the crash.
The group filled the pews in the centre of the church - some had cuts on their faces and others were wrapped in bandages.
An older band member had his arms around a younger boy from the group.
Mourners at a memorial service at the Tongan Methodist Church in Grey Lynn. Photo / Nick Reed
Members of the Tongan community poured into the church, dressed in black with woven mats - ta'ovala - wrapped around their bodies as a sign of respect.
Badges printed with the faces and names of the two victims were also pinned to the shirts of those gathered at the church.
