Samoan worker Va’amailalo Sasi Neru recounts fatal State Highway 1 crash

Vaimoana Mase of

By Vaimoana Mase of

Va'amailalo Sasi Neru remembers dozing off to sleep to the sound of his mates joking and laughing as they travelled in their van from the Bay of Plenty towards Auckland.

When he woke, he saw a truck on the opposite side of the motorway veering straight towards them - then silence.

The 42-year-old was one of six men, including five seasonal workers from Samoa - here under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme - in that van on Monday, 26 August.

Three of them were killed instantly in the collision on State Highway 1 between Bombay and Ramarama, Auckland.

They were Neru's fellow workers and friends Leauga Jerry Leauga, 37, and Ta'avao Kelemete, 32, and their uncle Fa'aofo Uili Fa'aofo, 45 - the vehicle's driver, who is survived by his wife and six children.

Fa'aofo had offered to drive the group because he wanted to spend the day with his nephews Leauga and Kelemete before their planned return to Samoa later in the week.

Three men survived, including Neru, who three weeks after the crash is suffering from back pain and headaches.

The other two survivors are Luai Tavita, 39, and the 21-year-old brother of Leauga, who has serious injuries and remains in Auckland City Hospital.

Speaking from his home on the island of Savaii, Samoa, Neru recalls the moment he saw the truck suddenly swerve and crash into a vehicle before slamming through a wire barrier.

"I thought the wires would stop them - or slow them down at least. But the truck rammed right through towards us.

"I closed my eyes when I saw the truck was about to hit us and I tried to do something to save myself - to brace myself."

Neru said he was the only one in the car to make a sound, yelling "Uoia!" - the Samoan equivalent for whoa.

"I closed my eyes and felt the truck slam into us. Every part of my body - my head, my back - was slammed around."

When he came to, he looked around to see if everyone was okay.

The only person making any kind of movement, he says, was his friend Tavita in the front passenger seat.

"I heard a voice from outside. They were calling out to turn off the van and take out the key. My head was spinning."

The father of three remembers lying on the ground as members of the public worked to help his friends.

"There was a Samoan man who came and spoke to me. I asked him how my friends were and he said there were fatalities. I couldn't talk after that. I just cried."

Back in Samoa, Neru's wife Liva and their three daughters, aged 7, 15 and 18, would not find out about the crash until later that evening, while they were out collecting coconuts.

"Someone ran out to us with the phone and it was a relative who had seen the news about the crash and knew Sasi was in the van.

"I took the call and just started sobbing. I just wanted to know if my husband was alive," she told the Herald.

She and their youngest daughter travelled via ferry to the airport to wait for her husband, a reunion she described as "nothing but tears".

"We hugged and cried and cried. There were so many emotions - we were happy to have our loved one home and devastated for the other families."

On the ferry home, they happened to sit next to the widow of one of the men who had been killed. She had gone to the airport because her husband's coffin was on the same flight.

"We cried together and she said: 'I wish I was you'."

A second chance

A day after the crash, police said the Serious Crash Unit was investigating the cause. Initial indications were that the truck had suffered a tyre blowout which caused it to veer off-course.

Police said this week there was no further update and the investigation is ongoing.

A Givealittle page set up to help the bereaved families raised almost $59,000.

The Samoan Advisory Council in NZ has since set up a fund and Givealittle page to help the families of the surviving men.

Neru and fellow survivor Tavita have both returned to Samoa.

The bodies of Leauga and Kelemete have also been returned there, and their uncle Fa'aofo has been laid to rest in Auckland.

Neru told the Herald he hopes to be able to return to work under the RSE scheme again one day, as the job helped to pay for his daughters' school fees, build a fale for his family and provide for his elderly parents. Without the job, they rely on the ocean for food and income.

"My parents said to me that maybe I've been given a second chance by God."

- This story was originally published by the New Zealand Herald.