A young Tongan family who moved to the West Coast for the promise of a better life have been torn apart just days before Christmas.
A 43-year-old mother and her 15-year-old son were killed when their car went over a bank and landed upside down in a creek as they drove through Taylorville shortly before 11am yesterday.
The woman's 4-year-old son, who was also in the car, was injured.
A relative, who did not want to be identified, said the family had moved to the West Coast from Tonga about seven years ago for work.
The mother's husband, who worked in forestry, had been on a job in Invercargill when he received the devastating news yesterday afternoon.