‘Taken too soon’: Four young lives lost in crash
Tributes flow for teenagers killed in horror smash on Invercargill road
They were sons, moko, brothers, best mates. They were loved. And on Friday, in an instant, four Southland teenagers were lost forever.
Police are still working to piece together how the Ford ute they were travelling in collided head-on with a concrete truck on an inner-city street in Invercargill just before 4pm on Friday.
Emergency services converged on Queens Drive after the crash and were “shook” to find the four teens dead in the cab of the ute.
Three of the boys were 16 and from Bluff. The fourth was a 17-yearold from Invercargill.
It is understood they went to Southland Boys’ High School.
Rector Simon Coe said: “The school is saddened by the tragic loss of these young men from our community. Our thoughts are with the family and we are making contact to ensure our support is available to the family and affected whanau and friends.”
Footage of the immediate aftermath of the crash seen by the Herald on Sunday showed members of the public — including an off-duty surgeon and nurse — clambering on to the wreckage to try to help.
One woman reached through a broken window. “Let’s get this guy out,” she could be heard saying in the footage, posted on social media but since removed. “They’re the only person that’s gonna live.”
As the back door was wrenched off with a crowbar, one bystander said to the boy in the back “hang there mate”.
“How many’s in the car?” a person shouts.
“Four or five,” another answers. Paramedics then rush to the scene and take over.
None of the boys survived. As of last night their names had not been formally released.
Tributes and photos have been posted and shared widely of the boys whose deaths have shaken the Invercargill and tight-knit Bluff communities.
“I’m sitting here writing this with tears in my eyes. Gone but not forgotten, taken too soon along with everyone else,” said one friend. “Frvr 16.”
The family of another boy spoke of his death on Facebook.
His brother posted a photograph of them together, captioned: “Fly high little bro, I love you so much.”
Their mother then wrote, “rest in love baby boy”.
And the sister of another victim posted the last photo she took with him.
“Fly high little brother. Literally no words right now. Just lost.”
The Herald on Sunday has contacted family members but they were not ready to speak publicly.
The driver of the concrete truck also declined to comment. He was not injured in the crash and was doing “okay” yesterday.
The Herald on Sunday understands he spent time on his own at the scene of the crash yesterday afternoon after police lifted the cordon and reopened the road.
The after-impact footage shows the driver screaming and jumping out of the cab before walking to the side of the road, visibly distressed.
Yesterday, flowers were placed at the scene, with a note that read: “Rest in love boys. For ever grateful to be able to know you all.”
One of the first people on the scene said he would never get the faces of the victims out of his head — and after losing his daughter in a fatal crash last year knew what their parents would be feeling.
Logan Lalovaea and his wife were parked at Queens Park when they heard a big bang about 20m away. Lalovaea ran to help and started filming, thinking the information he captured might help police later.
His own daughter died in a crash last year and his instinct was to document what had happened from the start.
“When I first saw the ute I just knew there would be no survivors,” he said.
“The truck driver was very, very upset — understandably. I feel really sorry for him.
Lalovaea cried while speaking to the Herald on Sunday and said: “It’s not something you ever want to see.
“It was pretty horrible. I lost my daughter, my only child in a car crash last year — so seeing something like this was traumatising. I’m still grieving the loss and then to see something like this . . . I keep seeing those young boys’ faces.”
Lalovaea said he knew in part what the boys’ families would be going through today.
“You can’t imagine what it’s like to get that phone call from the police.
“I really do feel for the families and I also feel for the truck driver and his family — he is going to suffer big time.
“Lives lost right in front of him. Hopefully he’s got good support.”
The investigation into the crash was ongoing.
Southland Area Commander Inspector Mike Bowman said, “No words can explain our sympathy to the families and the wider community.”
He said the scene “shook up all the emergency services involved”.
“It was a horrific scene. But our emergency services deal with this unfortunately day-in, day-out.”
He urged anyone who saw the crash, especially anyone with dashcam footage, to contact police urgently.
He said it was too soon to speculate about the cause of the crash.
It was one of a number of fatal crashes across New Zealand in recent days. One person died after a crash at the intersection of Western Hills Drive and Douglas St in Whanga¯ rei at 9.30am yesterday. Another person died after a two-vehicle crash on Arapaepae Rd (SH57) in Levin early yesterday morning.