Tragedy hits Taranaki family

Tragedy struck a prominent South Taranaki Maori family at the weekend when a member of a family convoy died in a crash just north of Mokau.

The convoy was transporting the remains of the dead man's father, who had died 18 years earlier, to ancestral land in Northland for re-burial, said New Plymouth sergeant Pat Duffy.

Ronald James Rupapera, 49, of Eltham, was riding a BMW motorcycle when he failed to take a slight bend by the Seaview motor camp at 9.30pm on Friday.

The patient was initially treated by the Mokau St John ambulance crew, and later Taranaki District Health Board medics who arrived on the Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter.

However he died just before being placed in the helicopter.

Nationwide during the weekend, three road fatalities were reported.

A motorcyclist died at Golden Downs, Nelson, shortly before 2pm yesterday while earlier in the day an eight-year-boy died after a van rolled on Auckland's Southern Motorway near Orams Rd in Manurewa.

Early yesterday morning, a teenage driver was killed after crashing on a one-lane bridge near Otorohanga.

- © Fairfax NZ News