Twizel crash: Victim remembered by family, Givealittle page set up to support his young daughter, mother, siblings

The man killed in a crash at Twizel has been remembered by his family. Lucas died at the weekend after his car "veered" into a canal. Photo / Givealittle

The family of a man killed after a car crashed into a canal in the central South Island at the weekend has been remembered by his family as someone with “big” dreams who “always needed to be doing something”.

The 29-year-old - named by his family as Lucas - was the only occupant in the car which crashed off Ōhau B Canal Bridge near Twizel in the Mackenzie District south of Canterbury on Saturday.

His body was located last night by the police dive squad.

The investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing and police today appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

The man’s family have set up a Givealittle page to raise funds for his funeral and to support his mother, siblings and young daughter.

“My cousin, Lucas, passed away after a terrible accident ... him and his vehicle veered off course and plunged into the canal,” his cousin Emily Croft wrote on the fundraising page.

“I need your help please, my aunty has lost her husband in recent years and has not been able to work due to the grief, and now she has lost her son too.

“We are not a family of financial means, we are a rural farming whānau.

“I’d like to gather some donations to help with the costs of the tangi (funeral), accommodation for family and friends, food, travel, and hopefully something to support his daughter, mother, grandparents, and brothers.”

Croft said Lucas was “a father, a farmer, a hunter, and always needed to be doing something”.

“He would often pace around the house when he had nothing to do - saying repeatedly ‘let’s go do something -anything! Come on ya townies let’s go to the river, up the hill, hunting, fishing ...’,” she explained.

“He would look at my brother and I, simple town folk who he was hell-bent on getting us out onto the farm.”

Croft shared her favourite memories of Lucas.

“He taught me to ride a motorbike - well he laughed as I tried anyway,” she wrote.

“He loved making RnB CDs and driving about the countryside listening to NeYo, Rihanna, Beyonce and Stan Walker.

“He loved his dogs, especially Bro, and we would take them everywhere we went.

“My fondest memory of Lucas was sitting up on the hill overlooking our Grandad’s farm, and we would talk about how when we were ‘big’ we would take over the farm for Grandad and yarn for ages about our dreams.”

The Givealittle page was set up today and can be found here.

If you have information about the fatal crash please contact the police. Call the non-emergency number 105 or visit https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105 and quote the file number 230115/5559.