Relatives, classmates, and friends are commemorating the victims of a horrible traffic accident in New Zealand that claimed the lives of seven people, including a baby, representing three generations of one family.
After being driven overnight to get from practically one end of the country to the other, seven of nine persons in a van killed instantly when it wandered onto the wrong side of the road and hit head-on with a semi-trailer.
Paul Brown, 61, his Filipino wife Diseree Brown, 48, and their 14-year-old son Mark, as well as Diseree’s sister Divine Dolar, 56, and Divine’s daughter Flordeliza Dolar, 19, died.
Pedro Clariman, 26, and Luie Lagud, 16, were two of Diseree’s boys who survived, but Luie was in a coma and is awaiting surgery.
Pedro is doing well, but his wife died, along with their nine-to-ten-month-old baby Mika.
Diseree has three additional children who did not accompany her on the trip and are heartbroken over the loss of their family members.
Mark was a Year 10 student at Pukekohe High School in Pukekohe, New Zealand, while Luie is a Year 11 student.
Richard Barnett, the school’s principal, informed parents of his death by email on Monday.
‘His older brother, a Year 11 student, is still in the hospital. Our condolences and thoughts go out to their families and close friends,’ he wrote.
The tragedy ‘seriously devastated’ the school, according to Barnett, and the two boys were part of a ‘wonderful family.’
Paul Brown worked at Parkside Specialist School in Pukekohe, where he taught autistic children.
Carol Willard, the school’s principal, said staff and students were “deeply grieved” by his death and described him as a “much-respected and liked part of our school community.”
Paul Brown was a ‘great brother’ who taught autistic children, according to his sister.
‘We’re dealing as best we can at this moment, but seven members of one family passing away at the same time is awful,’ she said.
Romy Udanga, an Auckland Filipino community leader, promised that his community would support the surviving family members and that fund-raising had already begun.
Members of Wellington’s Filipino community were on standby to assist the two survivors, he said.
Some of the bodies have been sent to Christchurch, and the Philippines Embassy is said to be supporting New Zealand police with the inquiry.
On Monday, a guy who hosted the family just outside of Christchurch while they took a rest on their long journey home called a New Radio talkback station.
Bill, a man who only offered his first name, said he had known Paul Brown since they met in church in 2015 and was pleased to extend his home to help the family.
Family members took turns travelling from Gore, approximately 500 kilometers away, with an overnight stopover in Dunedin, to arrive about 10 p.m. on Saturday, according to Bill.
Although he offered for them to remain longer and get more rest, the family only stayed for around four hours.
Mr Brown, on the other hand, stated that they would travel gradually to Picton and catch a few hours of sleep while waiting for the boat back to the North Island.
While one of the drivers napped, Bill and his companion talked, but the rest of the family slept or relaxed quietly.
‘This was a vibrant family – my friend was a high school teacher… his wife started an online business and he was really proud of her,’ Bill said.
‘They had four boys and girls… One of the boys married a Taiwanese young lady and it was their baby [who] died.
‘I was really taken with this young woman, she was so nice and it really hits home at my heart that she’s gone and the baby’s gone.
‘Her husband survived… he’s going to wake up and find that he’s now alone.’
Bill thought fatigue may have been a factor in the crash.
‘You spend every spare moment thinking of the what-ifs and the whys,’ he said.
‘My friend was a high school teacher, his students are finding out now that he’s not coming back.’
The vehicle collided with the truck just beyond Picton on State Highway 1 south, five hours after leaving Bill’s house.
The driver of the refrigerated goods truck was treated and released from the hospital with minor injuries.
Inspector Paul Borrell, the acting Tasman district commander, described the sight on Sunday as “total carnage.”
‘Seven lives are gone in the flash of an eye,’ he remarked on Sunday.
The incident is the deadliest in New Zealand since eight people died in a disaster near Taupo in April 2019, and it is the worst in the South Island in over two decades.
Inspector Simon Feltham, the Marlborough Area Commander, said on Sunday that first responders would be offered counselling to help them cope with the stress.
‘It was their third day working out of police college for one of our staff members,’ he said. ‘It’s a terrifying situation to be in.’
Because the corner had a misleading bend in the road, Rick Rawlings claimed there had been two more catastrophic crashes there in recent years.
‘It’s a very narrow section of State Highway 1; it starts in Picton, and by the time it gets here, the vehicles have [sped] up quite a bit from Picton, and then they have to negotiate a corner that doesn’t show up all that well – I know, I live right on it,’ says the driver.