NEW ZEALAND – Five Tongan men leaving their kiwifruit packhouse jobs at the end of the working day have been killed in a crash with a logging truck near Katikati, New Zealand.

One of the men was based in New Zealand, the other four had come from Tonga for the season, including a father and son.

The men were pulling out on to the state highway after finishing their shift when they were hit by the empty logging truck.

The crash, just after 8.00pm on Tuesday outside the Aongatete Coolstore, closed State Highway 2 for four hours, and police and fire crews with heavy cutting gear attended the scene.

Fire Service shift commander Paul Radden said it is not yet clear what caused the crash.

“Upon arrival the brigade found persons trapped in the vehicle. Tragically the fatalities are from the car.”

Radden said it is a relatively straight stretch of road, and police said the truck driver was distraught, but not injured in the crash.

Sawmill operator Kevin Ward lives nearby and his partner had just finished her packhouse shift working with the men who died.

“She just walked in the door and we heard a big bang. So I went out there and the car was pushed onto the opposite side of the road, up onto the bank, and there was nobody moving in the car.”

Ward said the men were pulling out from Dawsons Road to head north when the truck hit the driver’s side.

The coolstore operator, Allan Dawson, said they are now contacting all the men’s families in New Zealand and Tonga, and giving support to his workers, some of who witnessed the crash.

“We’re all just extremely distraught at the moment, we’re all reeling. They were part of our family. They were all fine young men.”

He said there was a dip in the highway to the north which oncoming cars and trucks could appear out of “quite quickly”.

He said his company would be providing financial support to the dead men’s families.

The victims have been named as Halani Fine, Koli Vaipulu, Sitiveni Vaipulu, Sione Teulaka, and Samuela Taukatelata.

Church elder Simione Vakasiuola, leader of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, said the loss of the five men had left the Tongan community in shock.

Word of the tragedy spread quickly through the tightly knit Tongan community in New Zealand and across the Pacific.

“There’s a lot of support and prayers for those who have passed away,” said Vakasiuola, a volunteer firefighter who also attended the crash. He knew all of the victims.

One of the dead men, Halani Fine, had lived with him in Katikati while working at the coolstore.

The others in the car had only been in the country for four months.

Vakasiuola said two of the victims were part of his congregation and he had broken the news to the Auckland-based mother of one of the men.

“It was the worst news I can give. I’m lost for words.”

Vakasiuola said the congregation would pray for the men’s families and offer whatever help they could. The church was planning a service for Friday.

The Western Bay District Council Mayor, Ross Paterson, said he could not recall so many lives being taken in a single crash on the road between Tauranga and Katikati.

He became aware there had been a crash after two police cars with their lights flashing sped past him as he was driving home.

“It is a terrible tragedy. It shows what can happen. You go out in the morning and you don’t know if you are coming home.”

Kaumatua Kiritoha Tangitu from Te Puna said police had called him to the crash site and asked him to give a blessing before the bodies were removed.

Tangitu said: “ I just cleared the way at the accident site and offered up some prayers. I’m of Catholic faith but I also used some traditional older prayers to bless the bodies and the scene. It’s been very upsetting for everyone.”

- PNC sources