Crash victim had survived earlier fall

Wilson Murray faced a gruelling rehabilitation after a three-storey fall in 2019. He was tragically killed in a crash last Tuesday.

A man who died in a crash near Kaiko¯ ura had survived a threestorey fall from a university hall building in 2019.

Wilson Murray, 21, of Marlborough died in a crash involving a car and truck on State Highway 1 near Mangamaunu, Kaiko¯ura, on Tuesday last week.

SH1 closed for nine hours after the crash, which happened just after 6am on September 27. A second person was reported to have received minor injuries.

As a 19-year-old engineering student, Murray was leaning against a window grille at Christchurch’s Ilam Apartments – run by Campus Living Villages – when part of it broke, sending him three storeys to the ground.

He spent six days in a coma and woke to learn he had a brain injury, a fractured vertebra, fractured ribs and a punctured lung.

The country had also moved from alert level 2 to a nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.

He received rehabilitation treatment before returning to his parents home five weeks later and, when he spoke to

Stuff about two months after the March 20 fall, he could already walk unsupervised.

Police said in a statement regarding the fatal crash: ‘‘Our thoughts and condolences are with Wilson’s loved ones.’’

Inquiries into the circumstances of the crash were ongoing, police said.

Wilson Murray survived falling three storeys from his university apartment in 2019. He died in a crash last Tuesday.