Family in horror crash returning from tangi

The family involved in a horror crash which killed three children near Shannon on Wednesday was returning home from a tangi.

Palmerston North woman Kathie Rifle, also known as Raiwhara, was driving her four children back from the Otaki tangi when her van veered off State Highway 56 and crashed into a deep culvert, The Dominion Post reported today.

One-year-old Hikurangi Te Pounamu Raiwhara, and his sisters Ashlie Waiata, 3, and Hannah May, 5, were killed.

Their brother, Tamati, 8, in Auckland's Starship Hospital, and Mrs Rifle, in Palmerston North hospital, are both in a serious condition.

Yesterday family members at Mrs Rifle's bedside said she had woken from her coma.

Her brother Rob Wilson said the family had the support of friends and the church and were bearing up in the circumstances.

"Kathie and her son are stable. Now it's just a waiting game for them to come right and we'll take it from there," he told the newspaper.

The children's father had travelled to Auckland to be with Tamati, but returned yesterday to his wife.

Police are continuing their investigation into the crash, checking for mechanical faults, whether the children were wearing seatbelts and whether they were working correctly.

- NZPA