appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

The New Zealand Herald

Seven people, making up three generations of the same family, have died in New Zealand after the van they were travelling in hit a truck on Sunday morning.
A baby was among the victims, some of whom came from Auckland’s Filipino community. A teenage boy and a man survived.
Police said the victims included Paul Brown and his wife, Diseree Brown, and their son Mark. Diseree’s sister, Divine Dolar, also died in the crash along with her daughter Flordeliza Dolar, the Stuff news portal reported.
The family were returning home to the North Island after attending a funeral in Gore, when the crash happened at about 7.30am. Images of the crash showed that their Toyota Hiace van was completely destroyed by the impact.
The survivors were flown to Wellington Hospital. One was in serious condition while the other was in a serious but stable condition.
‘I will bring him home in a box’: Filipino lawyer shot dead on US holiday
A friend of the family called Bill told talk-radio show Newstalk ZB that they had come to stay with him on Saturday night.
“They spent some of their last hours on Earth with me on Saturday night, Sunday morning,” he said.
“This was a vibrant family – my friend was a high schoolteacher … his wife started an online business and he was really proud of her … They had four boys and girls … One of the boys had married a young Taiwanese lady and it was their baby that died.
“I was really taken with this young woman, she was so nice and it really hits home at my heart that she’s gone and the baby’s gone. Her husband survived … he’s going to wake up and find that he’s now alone. This is really a terrible and shocking news for the community.”

Romy Udanga, an Auckland Filipino community leader, said he was shocked to learn that most of those killed in the crash were members of the community.
Udanga said members of the community in Wellington were on standby to help the two survivors – a man and a teenager – in Wellington Hospital.
“This is really a terrible and shocking news for the community, and all our thoughts are with the families and those affected,” Udanga said.
Matilde Figuracion, a Filipino living in Wellington, was meant to have travelled on the same ferry as those involved in the crash.
“The crash happened just minutes before us, and the roads were closed when we reached the Picton area. I was in shock when I heard what happened,” she said. “When I heard they are Filipino, I told the nurses in Wellington Hospital that I am here if they needed any help.”
I can still feel his hand in mine when we shook hands when he left
‘Bill’, a friend of the family
Bill told Newstalk ZB that he had not seen his friend Paul for four years. The family briefly rested at Bill’s house in Rolleston, outside Christchurch, before leaving at around 2.30am and heading north to get the ferry from Picton to Wellington.
“Some slept – the guy that was driving … had a couple of hours’ sleep. One of the lads played a computer game and didn’t bother to sleep, but all the rest except for my friend snoozed a bit,” he said.
“I’d suggested, why don’t you stay and have more sleep, and my friend said, ‘No, we’ll be okay, we’ll just slowly make our way up to Picton and get maybe have a couple of hours sleep when we get there while we wait for the ferry’.
“So they left and I went to bed and never thought any more about it. They were at my place for over four hours so they did actually have quite a break.”
The family were based in Auckland and had relatives in the Philippines and Taiwan, Bill said, adding that he was haunted by the deaths.
“I can still feel his hand in mine when we shook hands when he left … the chair he sat in I’ve touched a few times this morning,” he said. “I really just wanted to tell people that these were real folks, it’s going to be a huge shock.”


China’s cancer breakthrough on CAR-T cell therapy shows progress

Cambodia hosts anti-scam summit as scepticism lingers

Black robin rules roost in New Zealand’s Bird of the Year vote

Pacific island states are trapped in Cold War 2.0

New Zealand

Three generations of Filipino-New Zealand family killed in ‘shocking’ crash

The family’s van was almost completely destroyed in the crash. Photo: New Zealand Herald

The family’s van was almost completed destroyed in the crash, which happened south of Picton on Sunday morning. Photo: New Zealand Herald 

The truck that was involved in the fatal crash. Photo: New Zealand Herald

‘The Hong Kong guys will kill you’: Elizabeth Zhong told New Zealand police of gang violence threats before murder, court hears

Elizabeth Zhong, also known as Ying Zhong, was found murdered in Auckland in November 2020. Photo: New Zealand Police Handout via New Zealand Herald

Police and forensics investigators pictured at Elizabeth Zhong’s home in the east Auckland suburb of Sunnyhills in November 2020. Photo: Sylvie Whinray/New Zealand Herald

What’s New Zealand’s plan as superpower rivalry escalates in the Pacific?

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reacts during a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Photo: AP

New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta dismissed concerns about China’s flurry of diplomatic activity in the Pacific. Photo: Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pictured with Fiji President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere last month. Photo: Fiji Government via AP

US President Joe Biden pictured with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the Oval Office on May 31. Photo: AP

Five Chinese tourists dead after bus crash in New Zealand

Ambulances park on a the highway near tourist bus crash in the Mamaku Ranges near Rotorua, New Zealand. Photo: AP

Survivors from a tourist bus crash walk along the highway in the Mamaku Ranges near Rotorua, New Zealand, Wednesday, Sept. 4. 2019. A bus carrying a group of Chinese tourists crashed near a popular New Zealand tourist town. (Ben Fraser/Rotorua Daily Post via AP)

New Zealand man admits to racist road rage attack on ethnic Chinese family

Fraser Milne appears in the Auckland High Court. Photo: New Zealand Herald

For New Zealand-Chinese, global rise in anti-Asian hate a reminder of painful past

Protesters at a #StopAsianHate march in Auckland, New Zealand, on March 27, 2021. Photo: YouTube/Daryl Wong

People at the Auckland Chinese Community Centre’s Chinese New Year Festival and Market Day event on January 30, 2021. Photo: John Ling/Handout

A receipt for a re-entry permit for a poll tax-payer dated 1906. Photo: Archives New Zealand/Handout

Protesters at a #StopAsianHate march in downtown Auckland on March 27, 2021. Photo: YouTube/Daryl Wong

Kirsten Wong is a poll tax descendant. Photo: Handout

News

Asia

Australasia

Southeast Asia


The family were based in Auckland and had relatives in the Philippines and Taiwan, a friend told a New Zealand talk radio show
They were travelling home on Sunday when their Toyota Hiace van hit a truck and was almost completely destroyed. Seven people died



The family were travelling home to Auckland when their Toyota Hiace van hit a truck and was almost completely destroyed. Seven people, including a ‘young Taiwanese’ woman’s baby, died.


The Philippines