Miracle baby survives motorway crash

6-month-old Peter was flung from the family van. Photo / Richard Robinson

A woman who watched her husband die after a four-vehicle motorway smash has spoken of their last moments together as they lay trapped in their overturned van, and how she begged him not to leave her.

But she says her husband will live on in his 6-month-old grandson, who survived being thrown from the van on to the busy road in the crash after a family dinner.

Petelo Fa'aeteete, 52, had taken his family out for a meal and was driving home on Auckland's Southern Motorway when a car slammed into his vehicle.

The van rolled three times before landing driver's side down. Mr Fa'aeteete died moments later.

His wife, Aida, was in the front passenger seat. Their daughter Karen, 28 and three months pregnant, and her 6-month-old son, Peter, were in the back.

"We both had our hands on the arm rest. As soon as I placed my hand there my husband would put his on mine and caress it," she told the Herald.

"I remember everything about it. All of a sudden I heard a big bang. I didn't know what it was. It was so fast. It came from behind.

"When I opened my eyes ... I called out his name ... I knew that if he wasn't dead he was in a bad condition. I said, 'Hang in there, Petelo, help will come, help will come. Hang in there. You can't leave me now'."

At the moment the van was hit, Karen was buckling baby Peter back into his carseat. The seat was properly secured, but the boy had been uncomfortable and Karen was repositioning him.

Little Peter, named after his grandfather, was thrown from the van and landed about 5m away on the motorway.

A motorist picked him up and carried him back. She cared for Peter as his mother tried desperately to save Mr Fa'aeteete.

"I saw Karen on the windscreen, she was begging for her father not to die," Mrs Fa'aeteete said. "She was kicking the windscreen, trying to get to her Dad."

Police arrived and freed Mrs Fa'aeteete from the van. Firefighters had to cut her husband from the wreckage.

Mrs Fa'aeteete, Karen and Peter spent last Thursday night in hospital. The women had minor injuries but the baby was unharmed.

Mr Fa'aeteete's son, Fa'asao, said Peter was a miracle baby.

"He was found on the motorway, five metres away, and not a scratch. The police told us that with that distance, they couldn't believe he even survived."

Mr Fa'aeteete was born in Samoa. He met his wife in the Philippines after he won a scholarship to study forestry there and the couple moved to Auckland in the late 80s.

Mr Fa'aeteete worked as a tomato picker, salesman and boiler operator for Carter Holt Harvey. He gained a teaching degree, graduating on the same day as his wife in 2008.

"He tried to get into teaching, but his passion was taxi driving. He enjoyed meeting people," Fa'asao said.

Mr Fa'aeteete's other son, James, said his father was a role model, and was respected by all who knew him.

Mrs Fa'aeteete paid tribute to the dedicated family man.

"Whatever he had, he shared. He was a very, very generous man. He would go without - as long as everyone else had something. He was a man with a big smile; 99.9 per cent of the time he was smiling."

Fa'asao added: "He was an all-round fun-loving and caring guy. He was well respected just because of his humility and his approach to his family.

"My Dad really loved my Mum; you could see it. I'm really honoured to have him as my Dad. He's lived an awesome life - that's the reason we're so shocked; he was still so young."

The family said Mr Fa'aeteete's memory would live on in baby Peter, who has many of his grandfather's characteristics. He is Mr Fa'aeteete's only grandchild.

"He loved his grandson. They had this thing together that no one else had," Mrs Fa'aeteete said.

"He really adored that boy. Everything Peter is doing now, he was taught by his granddad. Too short ... 52 years is just too short."

Police confirmed that three cars and Mr Fa'aeteete's van were involved in the crash, but said they were still investigating its cause.