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Bus carrying Mailefihi & Siu'ilikutapu students crashes near Gisborne, two dead Featured

Talita Moimoi (Teacher) and Sione Taumalolo (Student) who passed away at the crash scene Talita Moimoi (Teacher) and Sione Taumalolo (Student) who passed away at the crash scene

25 December, 2016. A tutor and a student died after a bus carrying a seconady school brass band from Tonga crashed 100 metres down a bank while they were heading to a Christmas Day service in Gisborne, New Zealand late on Christmas eve.

More than 40 people were injured when the bus ploughed through a barrier and rolled down a steep bank about 30 kilometres from the resort town of Gisborne, on the east coast of the North Island.

The body of one person was found soon after the crash (Sione Taumalolo 12 a student) and the second body was recovered in a later search of the wreckage (Talita Moimoi, 20 a staff mamber).

The sad news shocked the small island nation on Christmas day as facebook posts shared the unbelievable news and identified passengers as a brass band comprising students and teachers from Mailefihi  & Siulikutapu College on Vavau Island in Tonga.

Police initially said 46 people were on board, but after the discovery of the second body they said the numbers were yet to be confirmed and they were working with the survivors to make sure everyone was accounted for.

Ambulance staff said 41 people required treatment and 27 were taken to hospital.

"The passengers are believed to be mainly Tongan school students, who are visiting New Zealand to fundraise for their school in Tonga," the police said in a statement.

"The group were travelling to Gisborne where they were due to perform as a band on Christmas Day."

Local media reports said the group were to have performed at Christmas church services and passengers not requiring hospital treatment were being cared for by the local Tongan community and Methodist Church.

Tonga's Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, along with the Minister for Pacific Peoples Alfred Ngaro and Tongan consul Lenisiloti Sitafooti Aho have traveled to Gisborne this evening to offer support to those involved.

The exact number of passengers on board was yet to be confirmed. Police were in the process of notifying the victims' families.

The school brass band and some of the teachers are in New Zealand to fundraise for the commemoration of the school's 70th years which is about to be held in the Vava'u Islands Group in mid 2017.

1 comment

  • Sifa
    Sifa Tuesday, 27 December 2016 12:00 Comment Link

    Te tau hanu pea hange oku tau tuhu holo, ka kou tui ki si'ana 'aho pe, pango pe 'e si'i fihia ai e kakai hange ko e si'i faka'uli mo e kau fokotu'utu'u. Kaneongo ha me'a ke fefee 'oku fiema'u e he ongo famili 'a e nonga 'a e 'Eiki. 'Ofa lahi atu ki he ongo famili o e pekia.

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