A week after a horrific balloon crash in Carterton claimed the lives of 11 people, the first of its victims was farewelled at a private service yesterday.
Mourners poured into the Michael Fowler Centre on a sunny Wellington afternoon to farewell 21-year-old Chrisjan Jordaan.
He and his girlfriend, Alexis Still, 19, were on board the balloon that caught fire and crashed in Carterton last Saturday.
Their bodies were released to their families days earlier than the other victims.
Jordaan, who was studying nursing at Massey University in Wellington, was a prominent youth leader at Arise Church which worships out of the Michael Fowler Centre.