Christchurch funeral service for the three Nepalese New Zealand family who died in a fire at their home in Waimate. Photo: Martin Hunter
Christchurch funeral service for the three Nepalese New Zealand family who died in a fire at their home in Waimate. Photo: Martin Hunter
Moving service held for fire victims as bereft surviving sisters tell how they tried to rescue them
Just over $40,000 has been raised for the three girls orphaned in a South Canterbury fire this week.
On Thursday evening, Tej Kafle, 49, wife Tika, 38, and youngest of four children, 8-year-old Prem, were farewelled at a service in Christchurch.
The three had died in the blaze that engulfed the five-bedroom flat above their Everest Indian Restaurant in Waimate on Wednesday morning.
Sisters Tulsi, 24, Manisha, 17, and Mamata, 11, who all sleep in the same room, woke to the fire and tried to rescue their parents and younger brother but were beaten back by smoke and flames.
Anyone wishing to share their message was invited to do so.
The book was set up by the Waimate Main School, where the youngest son, Prem, had attended.
Mayor Craig Rowley said it will be offered to the family at an appropriate time in the near future.
Family farewelled in moving service
A moving service farewelled the three happy, hard-working and generous family members.
Waimate fire survivors (l-r) Manisha Kafle, Mamata Kafle, and Tulsi Kafle talk of their fire ordeal that killed her parents and young brother. Photo / Martin Hunter
The parents and son were tonight farewelled in front of more than 100 family and friends at Palmer Funeral Services in the Christchurch suburb of Papanui.
Christchurch funeral service for the three Nepalese New Zealand family who died in a fire at their home in Waimate. Photo / Martin Hunter
Mourners placed colourful flowers on top of the three wooden coffins.
Three lit candles represented the lives lost and incense burned as the three orphaned and distraught daughters and grandparents, who had been visiting from Nepal, were consoled by friends and family.
Speakers in both English and Nepalese spoke of the close family who had become well-known and well-loved in the small, tight-knit South Canterbury community of Waimate.
Mr Rowley said their deaths have been "a huge loss, not just for you, but for our community".
Adam Rivett, principal of Waimate Main School where Prem attended with his sister Mamata, fought back tears when he spoke of how the deaths had affected his school.
Five staff and five students attended the Hindu service tonight, but Prem had been such a huge part of the school that Mr Rivett said he "could easily have come with all our school".
He told Mamata that the school misses her and the staff and children are "thinking of you all the time".
Waimate High School principal Janette Packman spoke of the "real shock and deep sadness" which has affected the whole school.
She wanted Manisha to know that the school has reached out to her for whenever she was ready.
Waimate resident Bob Rogers said he met the Kafle family 12 months ago.
They often visited him, with Mr and Mrs Kafle growing vegetables in his garden, and the children tending flowers.
Christchurch funeral service for the three Nepalese New Zealand family who died in a fire at their home in Waimate. Photo / Martin Hunter
He described the eldest sister, Tulsi as a "very special person" and a "wise young lady" who has been working hard to fulfil her dream of becoming a nurse.
Mr Rogers vowed to continue supporting the girls and said he, and others, would ensure that Tulsi lives out her dream.
Family friend Bishnu Pokhrel told how Mr Kafle, the eldest of four brothers and a sister, had married Tika 25 years ago.
He spent many years working abroad in Delhi and Holland as a chef before he travelled to New Zealand in 2007.
He first worked in Greymouth, before Auckland and Christchurch, finally settling in Waimate where he set up his own restaurant 18 months ago.
The rest of his family followed him out from Nepal and they set up a happy new life, the service heard.
His closest Nepalese friend in New Zealand, Gokul Bhandari, who lives in Twizel, told how Mr Kafle had said just days before the fatal fire that he'd been wanting to move his family's residence away from above the restaurant to somewhere else.
Earlier in the day, the sisters spoke for the first time since their ordeal.
They had been in bed in the room they shared about to get up for school when the blaze started.
"I was sitting in the bed ... my sister woke up, opened the door and at that moment they were shouting out and telling, 'Mum, mum,' and I was wondering what happened," Manisha said from her uncle Bishnu Kafle's home in Christchurch where he says he will take them in.
Tulsi said she first noticed there was a fire when a "strong wind" rushed through the door.
"I said, 'It is not earthquake, what's happening?'" Tulsi said.
"I wanted to save my parents," she said, and so she went back into the burning building to retrieve her cellphone.
She found her phone and came out of the building.
Manisha phoned her mother but got no answer. She then phoned 111.
Manisha said she and her sisters were "yelling [for people] to help us".
"Unfortunately we couldn't save our parents and our little brother," Manisha said from a bed at her uncle home in Christchurch where they are recovering.
Tulsi added: "We are sad we could not save our parents. We are really saddened."
