Sione Lelenoa and Viliami Palavi played in a fundraising concert in Gisborne last night. Photo / Supplied
Sione Lelenoa and Viliami Palavi played in a fundraising concert in Gisborne last night. Photo / Supplied
Students and teachers involved in the deadly bus crash that killed two of their peers have quietly arrived in Auckland where they have been singing and joking through their pain.
Dozens of students aged between 11 and 17 from Tonga's Mailefihi Siu'ilikutapu College, in Vava'u, are settling in at a church in the city, having been flown to Auckland free by Air New Zealand five days after the Christmas Eve crash.
They are expected to stay at the church until they leave the country next month.
Teachers wore black clothing and mats - ta'ovala - around their waists, a sign of mourning.
Students gathered in a hall beneath the building where prayers were said on arrival.
The youngsters, most of them teenage boys, spoke quietly but continued to smile and joke with each other, while others slept inside.
Mele Suipi Fakatava Latu said the youngsters have pain and trauma to deal with. Photo / Supplied
President of the college's ex-students association, Mele Suipi Fakatava Latu, acknowledged the tragic circumstances, but said many within the group were doing okay.
"We can only call it from what's going on on the outside - there's been a change of spirit.
"They sing along now, they run. I can tell that there's a difference from the first time I went to see them," she said.
"They're still, in some ways, physically weak - incapable to walk. Most of the students who were not seriously injured - they're all as normal.
"But there's still some pain and trauma to deal with."
The group, made up of the college's brass band, teachers and parent-helpers, were in New Zealand to raise funds for their school when the crash happened.
