Police have released the names of three family members who died in an East Cape crash yesterday.
They are 43-year-old woman Tiny Tibble, 14-year-old boy Ashton-Lee Rangihuna, and 10-year-old girl Ana-Roimata Rangihuna.
The trio died on State Highway 35 north of Te Araroa after their four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser hit a tree and rolled.
The deaths have the tiny Te Araroa community north of Gisborne reeling, the NZ Herald reports.
Community leader Ani Pahuru-Huriwai told the newspaper Te Araroa, which has a population of 200, was devastated.
"It's a real tragedy, and when word reached us who was involved ... it's just even more of a tragedy."
It comes after a relative of the three deceased died in a crash at the same spot a month ago.
He was Lance Rangihuna.
"And any death is a tragedy but when it involves our children, close members of a family, it is very hard to find the words to express the pain our community is feeling,” Pahuru-Huriwai said.
"I don't think in my lifetime we will have had a tangi like this, three on the marae."
SHARE ME