The Masterton mother of a man killed in an horrific weekend road crash yesterday rushed to the bedside of her seriously injured grandsons.
Norma Ryder, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, travelled to Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland to be with her grandsons Rico, 4, and Tarshaye, 10, whom
rescuers pulled seriously injured from the family's Falcon car, which collided head-on with another vehicle before catching fire on State Highway 30 near Benneydale, east of Te Kuiti, just after 2pm on Saturday. A hospital spokeswoman said yesterday the brothers are both in a serious but stable condition.
The boys' father, Lucan Vaimanino Ryder, 29, was killed in the crash along with their mother Patricia Matthews, 30, and sister Monique Ryder, 9.
A police spokesman said control of the Falcon vehicle was lost while overtaking and an Opunake woman in the other car involved in the head-on collision, Susan Paton, 61, also died at the scene. Her male companion, William Latimer, 62, survived and was yesterday listed in a stable condition at Waikato Hospital.
Ms Matthews' uncle, Alan Matthews, said yesterday from the Benneydale family home only 10km from the crash site that friends and family are gathering at the address, from where Mrs Ryder left yesterday to be at her grandsons' bedsides.
The Ryder family had been heading to the Benneydale home to attend a family reunion, Mr Matthews said.
"We are all just praying the moko will pull through. There were complications overnight (Sunday) and we're holding off on funeral arrangements until doctors tell us they're going to be okay," Mr Matthews said.
He said the family "owe a great debt of gratitude" to passing motorists who stopped and rescued the boys from the burning car, although police were yesterday hunting for another motorist who reportedly weaved his vehicle through the crash wreckage before leaving the scene because he was "late for a rugby game".
Masterton man Sam Kohitolu, long-time friend of Mr Ryder, said the pair grew up "a street away from each other" near Kuripuni and enjoyed a close friendship through their college years and beyond.
He said Mr Ryder, uncle of New Zealand Black Cap Jesse Ryder, attended Hiona Intermediate and Makoura College and was an outstanding sportsman in each discipline to which he turned his hand, especially rugby, volleyball and golf.
He said Mr Ryder went on to work in the Wairarapa forestry industry and at McDonald's restaurant in Masterton, where he met Ms Matthews who was also working for the company.
The couple married in December after several years ago shifting to Dannevirke, where Mr Ryder had "followed in his father Jack's footsteps as a meatworker" and taken a job at the Alliance Meatworks.
"They were a very close couple and family. I caught up with him and Trish a few weeks ago and they were both very happy and their kids were full of energy, full of life. Everything was good," Mr Kohitolu said.
"Lucan was a very big guy and was very loving with it, and very humble. He was never one to talk about himself although he was a tremendously talented person," he said. "He was the centre of lots of social circles and people gravitated to him because if you knew him, you loved him. He was like a brother to me and the thing with Lucan is that a lot of people would say the same thing."
The Masterton mother of a man killed in an horrific weekend road crash yesterday rushed to the bedside of her seriously injured grandsons.
Norma Ryder, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, travelled to Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland to be with her grandsons Rico, 4, and Tarshaye, 10, whom
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