Small community hit by five-year-old's death

Photo / APN

The small Nelson community of Tapawera is reeling from the death of a 5-year-old girl in a motorcycle crash, the school's principal says.

Sarah Melissa Joanne MacDonald lost control of a small two-wheeled motorbike and hit a fence on a farm in Tapawera, about 60km southwest of Nelson, about 2.30pm yesterday.

She was seriously injured and died at the scene.

Sarah had been riding the motorbike with family members on the property.

Kelvin Woodley, principal of the local Tapawera Area School which Sarah attended, visited the family last night.

"It was a supervised family activity, and it just went dreadfully wrong,'' he said.

"It's a community that there's hardly anybody who won't be affected by it.''

School staff today spoke to students and a specialist trauma team from the Ministry of Education was on hand.

Police have spoken to witnesses and were investigating on behalf of the coroner.

Victim support were helping the family and witnesses to the tragedy.