The man widowed by a Waiuku crash that killed his wife, daughter and niece had moved from Tonga to New Zealand in the early 2000s.
The man was this morning with the bodies of his wife, daughter and niece, his brother told the Herald.
His
Waiuku triple-fatal: Man lost wife, daughter and niece in crash
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All three occupants of the vehicle died at the scene.
“The families have asked Police to convey a message on their behalf, that they are grieving and are coming to terms with this life-altering event,” Counties Manukau South area commander, Inspector Jared Pirret said.
“They have indicated they do not wish to make any further comment at this stage.”
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Pirret indicated they are receiving an overwhelming amount of contact from extended family and well-wishers; however, they would like privacy at this difficult time.
Locals have described the route as a “roller coaster road”.
Two officers this morning retrieved items that had been thrown from the vehicle when it crashed.
Children’s shoes, a kids’ lunch box and a booster seat could still be seen floating in the creek.
Pirret said the crash was “a confronting scene”.
“All emergency services deployed to the scene and worked together to carry out a rescue operation, and we acknowledge their professionalism.”
Police have completed a scene examination.
A security guard at the scene told the Herald the vehicle had been removed from the water late last night.
“The Serious Crash Unit now has the task of carrying out a thorough investigation to establish how this occurred,” Pirret said.
“This incident will impact the tight-knit community in Waiuku, and I know people’s thoughts are with the families caught up in this event.”
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A councillor of the South Auckland regional community said this morning residents are reeling.
“We’ve had our emergency services guys who are all locals, they’re all volunteers in the fire brigade and the police,” Franklin Ward councillor Andy Baker said.
“They’ll be reeling from this. So, you know, it’s just a terrible, terrible thing.”
Baker said the back road where the crash happened was popular with the locals, although he was unsure if the victims were from his community.
“It’s a rural road that’s sort of long and undulating, and it’s probably no more dangerous than any of the other roads in the area.
“It’s just depending on how people drive it. And that sort of time of the day, there was some pretty bad weather coming through.”
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Franklin Local Board member Gary Holmes said the stretch where the crash happened was dubbed the “roller coaster road” by locals.
“It’s part of the Waikato District as well… it has a slightly different speed limit to the one that we have in the Auckland region. So where most of the roads around Waiuku are 80km/h, parts of that road are 100km/h.”
Holmes said the speed of the road was possibly something for the Waikato and Auckland councils to look into, but for now, the focus was on wrapping around the family or families that were affected.
”I’m sure when the details come out about which family has been affected, it will hit this community hard.”
Masters Rd, between Waiuku and Kidd Rds, remained closed for a significant time yesterday.
Anyone who might have information to assist the police investigation can update them online or call 105 using the reference number 250715/829.
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