Family faces $15k bill after man dies in WA
The family of a 22-year-old who died in a road accident in Australia are having to fundraise to cover the costs of transporting his body home for his tangi.
Titan McCall died on January 8 in a ‘‘tragic car accident’’, thought to have been caused by him falling asleep at the wheel after finishing his mining night shift, his sister Le Reve McCall said from Auckland.
His death was a huge shock to the family but the loss has been made worse by the fact they have been unable to see his body nor plan a date for his tangi, she said.
Now his mother, Fleur Robson, faces a bill of about $15,000 to bring his body back from Western Australia and have him transported to Makahae Marae in the
Bay of Plenty. The cost has been pushed up by the coronavirus border closures, which has resulted in less travel and more expensive flights.
‘‘My mum is a solo mum, she does not have that big sum of money saved up.’’
Le Reve McCall said her mum would have liked to have gone over to Western Australia, where
Titan McCall had lived for the last three years.
But that would have involved 14 days’ quarantine there and 14 days’ quarantine on return, and ‘‘it’s already been too long’’, she said.
The delay has partly been caused by the police investigating the crash and coroner not wanting to release his body.
But the situation was also made more difficult by the fact Titan McCall’s girlfriend in Australia is not talking with his family in New Zealand, and initially did not want his body repatriated.
‘‘She was listed as his next of kin at his work place. Tragically, now he has been lost, the girlfriend still hasn’t contacted us; she’s trying to shut us out,’’ Le Reve McCall said.
Lawyers had to be engaged to work out a compromise, and now Titan McCall’s Western Australian wha¯ nau will have a funeral service for him there, before he is brought back to New Zealand.
Le Reve McCall said while the transport costs are huge – and the tangi costs will be additional – she has been blown away by response to a Givealittle page she put up on Friday, with people donating more than $2000. ‘‘We’ve had so much support and it’s been absolutely amazing.’’