A local schoolgirl kapa haka team will begin their national campaign today, despite their bus crashing and injuring 15 people on the way to the competition.
Twelve students and three staff from Turakina Maori Girls' College were injured in the crash just south of Gisborne on Sunday, with the last student released from Gisborne Hospital last night with a broken bone.
Emergency services were called about 3.30pm on Sunday after the school bus ran off the road and crashed into a ditch on Whareata Rd, 15 minutes out of Gisborne. They were heading to the National Secondary Schools Kapa Haka competition in Gisborne.
College board co-chairperson Piri-Hira Tukapa said the girls were coping well with the ordeal.
"They're a strong bunch and I think it might make them stronger ... it's probably made them closer."