Family struggles to cope with mother's crash death

A family of eight children is struggling to cope with the death of their mother in a road crash at the from which they and their father all escaped uninjured.

Mariana Parata, 35, died when the van her family was travelling in plunged down a bank and smashed into a fence pole near Marton early yesterday.

The Tauranga family was returning home at the time after having spent the weekend in Wellington.

Mrs Parata's two boys and six girls, aged one to 15, and their father, Ngamoana Parata, were now coming to terms with the news Mrs Parata did not survive.

Her sister-in-law, Hera Noble, said Mr Parata - known as Nana - was unable to tell his children. She and other family members went to Marton police station yesterday at 6am to take them to her Porirua home.

"They just thought their mum had got injured and been taken to hospital. I told Nana he should tell them, but he said he could not," she told the Dominion Post.

"It was heart-wrenching, to see these kids. Some of the big ones did not cope very well and the little ones did not totally understand."

She was not sure how her brother, an electrician aged in his 40s, would cope.

Mrs Parata will be buried near family members at Takapuwahia cemetery in Porirua later this week.

Police said early indications suggested fatigue was a factor in the crash.

- NZPA