Fatal accident: A father’s sorrow
The thought of burying his children had never crossed Noa Naivakadranu’s mind, but that is what he will be doing.
His son, Noa Naivakadranu Junior, was the fatality in an accident at the Nadali bypass in Bau Road, Nausori, on Saturday afternoon.
According to Police reports, he allegedly lost control of the car he was driving causing it to veer off the road and hit a culvert. There were two other people in the car including a Year 12 student of Queen Victoria School.
“It really hurts to think about it but if this is God’s will, then it is what it is, “said Mr Naivakadranu from his home in Naila Village in Tailevu.
Saturdays always meant work on the farm for the family, and Mr Naivakadranu left earlier and expected his son to follow later.
“Junior was still sleeping when I had left for the farm. I told his mother to tell him to join once he woke up,” he said.
“That was the last time I saw him alive. My wife told me that he woke up, had breakfast and left home for the farm however he did not reach the farm.
“His friends had stopped him at a house they were all in just outside the village.” It was around 4pm on Saturday afternoon when the Police came to see Mr Naivakadranu.
He was shocked and in disbelief that everything had happened in an instant.
Junior was the fifth of six children and an employee of the Land Transport Authority. “He was the one that would always do things for me. He was Daddy’s boy as he was closest to me,” said Mr Naivakadranu. Funeral arrangements were yet to be finalised.
He was the one who would always do things for me when I needed things done and I would say he was daddy’s boy as he was closest to me. I miss him so much. Noa Navakadranu Snr Grieving father
Police in their statement said the 17-yearold passenger in the vehicle was in a critical condition at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital while the other passenger, a 27-year-old man, escaped unharmed.