Sole survivor of fishing tragedy killed in car crash

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

A schoolgirl who touched the hearts of a nation last year when she survived a harrowing ordeal at sea has died in a car crash.

Kirsty Robinson, who lost her father and two fishing companions in a sea drama 15 months ago, was killed just when it seemed she was beginning to enjoy life again.

The 17-year-old, from Pukehina in coastal Bay of Plenty, was on her way home from a weekend visit to Opotiki when the car she recently bought ran off the road, down a steep bank and bounced off a poplar tree into another.

Kirsty was strapped in the passenger seat. She died at the scene.

Good friend Jessica Maassen, 17, was driving the car when it missed a bend on Wainui Rd, 10km east of Whakatane, in the rain just before 8 pm on Sunday.

Jessica was in a comfortable condition in Whakatane Hospital last night after surgery for leg injuries.

Whakatane crash analyst Senior Constable Pete Bedford said excessive speed and alcohol did not appear to have been factors.

He said two front tyres were not up to warrant-of-fitness standard.

Kirsty's mother, Val, and younger brother, Gareth, were being comforted by Robinson family members and friends yesterday.

Mrs Robinson's immediate relatives live in England and she and the two children had just booked a trip there for Christmas.

They were to go after Kirsty finished her seventh form year at Te Puke High School.

In April last year, Kirsty was the sole survivor of a 30-hour sea ordeal.

The borrowed 6m aluminium boat she was in overturned and for most of that day and well into the night, she, her father, Ross Robinson, 45, family friend John Lim, 38, and Kirsty's cousin Tim Cantwell, 14, huddled on the upturned hull.

The boat had seven lifejackets but only one came to the surface and the others insisted that Kirsty wear it.

Gradually, first Mr Lim and then Tim slipped away.

Five hours before Kirsty was found 12km off Maketu, Mr Robinson said he could hold on no longer.

"He was hugging me, and then he floated off," Kirsty said later.

A month after the sinking, Kirsty bravely fronted up at Te Puke High.

Yesterday, the school's students and staff were reeling in disbelief at the news of her road death.

"There are a lot of bewildered people," said the principal of the 1060-student school, Barry Foster.

"It is just not fair."

Only three months ago, another student, Karli Jo Melton, 15, was fatally struck by a car outside a Saturday night party on Pukehina Parade.

Kirsty's funeral will be held at the school on Friday at 4 pm.