Families devastated by deaths of teen friends

The families of two school friends have been left devastated after the pair were killed in the first of the weekend's horror car smashes.

Ahmad Azimi, 19, and Jonathan Jones, 20, died in Middlemore Hospital after their car was struck on Springs Rd in Otara, South Auckland.

Both families came to New Zealand in search of a better life.

Ahmad's brother Saboor said his family was "really suffering" because of the loss. He sponsored his younger brother to come from Afghanistan, with other family members, in 2001.

"He survived bombs, rockets and everything, and then to have this happen here in a peaceful country," Saboor said.

Ahmad, who lived in Pakuranga, was studying medical science at AUT.

The teen met his friend Jonathan, known as JJ, when they attended Pakuranga College together. JJ's mother Linda said her son was "the happiest person in the world". The family moved to New Zealand from Zimbabwe in 2000.

The keen basketball player had recently shifted to Te Aroha and returned to Auckland on Thursday.

The driver of the car, Shafieq Davids, 29, received a fracture to his neck but was home from hospital yesterday.

A third passenger, Andrew Verma, 20, was still in Middlemore Hospital.

The crash was one of four accidents to take lives during the first 24 hours of the holiday weekend.

A 48-year-old woman was killed on Friday after her car plunged over a bridge in Morrinsville, and a 39-year-old man died on State Highway 1 near Wellsford. A teenage boy was also found dead on Friday after being thrown from his car on the Whangarei Heads Rd, near Whangarei.