Tangi for young cousins

Photo / Martin Sykes

Two 18-year-old cousins who died in a triple fatality car smash this week were farewelled yesterday on a marae near Gisborne.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at a tangi for Mary Jane Te Purei and Te Maungarongo Kingi at the Parihimanihi Marae in the small village of Waihiriri, 15km out of Gisborne.

The two cousins were on their way to South Auckland with their friend Tiata Maxwell, also 18, when the Ford Probe they were travelling in slid and collided with an east-bound ute on State Highway 2 at Maramarua on Wednesday night.

All three young women died at the scene.

After the service the cousins were carried up a small mountain behind the village to be buried together.

"These two lived their lives together in this world, they ended it together and they are going up to be with their tipuna on that mountain together," one speaker said.

A service will be held in Gisborne today for Tiata Maxwell.

- GISBORNE HERALD