Death rocks Nepalese community

FILE

Rotorua's Nepalese community has been rocked by a second tragedy.

Nepalese man Raj Kumar Mahat, 33, died in Waikato Hospital on Wednesday, 10 days after he was critically injured in a car crash at Paengaroa.

The crash happened two days after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake turned Kathmandu and surrounding villages to rubble.

Members of the Rotorua Nepalese community held a vigil on Saturday, fundraising for the severely damaged country, but they were also thinking of Mr Mahat and hoping he would recover.

Mr Mahat had arrived in the country 24 hours before the crash to be with his wife, who is a student at Waiariki Institute of Technology.

Rotorua woman Nikeey Silwal said it was "a really sad time".

She was involved in organising the fundraising rally last weekend.

Although she hadn't met Mr Mahat or his wife, she said the Nepalese community would likely get together in support.

"We heard about [the crash] while we were organising our rally," she said.

"We had him in our minds as well but we couldn't do much because of where he was."

Mr Mahat was the passenger of a car involved in a two-car collision on State Highway 33, Paengaroa, around 5.30pm on Monday April 27.

Police inquiries are continuing and no further information is available at this time.

Western Bay road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion urged drivers to take extreme care on roads during the winter.