From left, Iva Harper, aged 3, Sera Eades, Iva's
great-grandfather Bob McCombe, crash driver Michael Eades and Valerie Bryan. Iva, Sera Eades and Valerie Bryan died in the crash.
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An English visitor is "inconsolable" after apparently falling asleep at the wheel of a car that crashed in Christchurch, killing his wife, cousin and 3-year-old granddaughter.
The deaths have devastated families in New Zealand and England.
The four travelled from Derbyshire to Christchurch only a few days ago for a
holiday and to visit the driver's ill mother.
Michael "Geoff" Eades, 63, was driving from Christchurch Hospital with his wife, Sera Eades, 60, his cousin, Valerie Bryan, 68, and his grand-daughter, Iva Harper, 3, about 6.20pm on Wednesday when the car struck a power pole only two minutes' drive from where they were staying.
The three who died may have been asleep when the crash occurred.
Mr Eades' brother, John McCombe, said it was difficult to comprehend the magnitude of the tragedy.
"It's the sort of thing that happens to other people, and never to you. It's just devastated the family."
His family were overwhelmed by the efforts of St John paramedics and hospital staff, who went "above the call of duty" to try to save Iva.
They restarted her heart after the crash, but her injuries were too severe for her to survive, he said.
Mr McCombe stayed the night in hospital with his brother, who he said was "absolutely devastated".
He was released from hospital yesterday.
"Physically he's not too bad. He's got a punctured lung and a broken ankle and broken ribs and bruising. It's a very small price to pay compared to the other victims.
"He's just inconsolable at the fact he was driving when his wife and cousin and granddaughter were killed."
Mr McCombe said he had ferried the group to hospital each day to visit his mother since their arrival, but on Wednesday Mr Eades had chosen to drive himself while apparently still affected by jetlag.
Detective Sergeant Andrew Fabish, of the Christchurch police, said charges of careless driving causing death might be laid.
An officer with the police serious crash unit said the car mounted the kerb, and the fact that the grass was not ripped by braking pointed to driver fatigue or a medical condition.
Ministry of Transport figures show that between 2005 and 2007, driver fatigue was a factor in 12 per cent of fatal crashes and 7 per cent of serious crashes.
For every 100 drivers killed in road crashes in which fatigue is a contributing factor, 35 of their passengers and 39 other road users die with them.
Mr McCombe said: "I don't think people realise how vulnerable they are, and how fatigue can cause an accident like this."
George Rowlands, 85, lives across the road from where the crash happened, and said he was in bed when he was woken by a "real boom".
"I thought someone had come through the fence and hit me, in my house. Quite frightening all right."
The impact against the pylon tore power wires off Mr Rowlands' home.
