A tiny East Cape town is reeling after losing a well-loved local in a head-on car crash yesterday.
Father-of-three Stuart Symes, 54, who ran Nuhaka's fish and chip shop, died instantly in the collision on State Highway 2 between Nuhaka and Morere around 10am.
Symes had just dropped his wife Pauline at the airport. She was to attend a wedding in Auckland but instead spent yesterday trying to get home. The only flight from Auckland to Gisborne was more than eight hours later.
Two of the occupants in the other car, Tara Karangaroa and Eden Solomon, were seriously injured in the crash. Karangaroa was flown to Wairoa Hospital then transferred to Hawke's Bay Hospital in a critical condition. A third, Daelan Karangaroa, 23, was discharged in the afternoon "sore and shaken".
Nuhaka Store owner Trevor Steed said the loss of Symes would be felt by many people.
