‘It has been 24 hours of hell’
Scott Tomlinson and his 18-month-old son were searching for the other two members of their family when he noticed skid marks leading to a dam.
It had been two hours since his wife, Nadine Tomlinson, 33, and their 3-year-old son, Angus, left home to do a couple of jobs on the tractor at the family’s farm in Waihemo, near Dunback in North Otago.
‘‘She never returned, so me and [son] Sam had to go looking for her to see what was holding her up.’’
A short while later Scott Tomlinson came across the scene where his wife had lost control of the tractor and trailer unit and crashed into a private irrigation dam on Sunday afternoon.
‘‘I couldn’t see the tractor, I could just see skid marks going into the dam and I knew where she was.’’
With his 18-month-old son beside him, Tomlinson could only wait for emergency services to arrive. Nearly 24 hours later, police divers recovered the bodies of his wife and oldest son.
The incident happened the same day 11-month-old Samuel Taufaeteau died after falling into a water race in Rolleston, south of Christchurch.
Tomlinson described his wife as a hard-working, driven woman who ‘‘meant the world to her boys’’.
The couple, who both grew up on farms, were married for 41⁄2 years and worked together on the 400-hectare property.
His son was ‘‘full of life’’. ‘‘He was a typical 3-year-old boy, just enjoyed time with mum and loved being on the tractor.’’
The pair’s deaths were a ‘‘freak accident’’, he said.
Friends, family and the wider community were rallying around him and Sam to support them during a ‘‘very tough time’’.
‘‘It’s been 24 hours of hell, but with time it will sink in more,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s going to be a pretty long ride for me and Sam to see where we go and what we do with farming and getting by.’’
Meanwhile, police are continuing to investigate the death of Samuel Taufaeteau in Rolleston.