Waverley residents remember their friends lost in devastating crash

Flowers are placed at the scene of the crash.

The four Waverley residents who died in Wednesday's devastating crash outside of the town were much loved in the community and will be sorely missed.

While the South Taranaki town mourned, Whanganui woman Ani Nohinohi, the only survivor of the two-car crash, was fighting for her life after losing both her daughters, Shady Thompson and Nivek Madams, and her partner, Jeremy Thompson.

The two cars, each with four people inside, collided on State Highway 3 just outside Waverley on Wednesday morning.

All of the victims were named by police after families had been notified of the tragedy.

The Waverley residents - all in the same car - were Ian Porteous, his wife, Rosalie Porteous, Ian's older sister, Ora Keene, and close friend, Brenda Williams.

They were all members or associates of the Waverley bowling club and yesterday president Joe Smith was still taking in what had happened.

Joe Smith is the president of the Waverley Bowling Club, which the four Waverley victims were all associated with.

He has put the bowling club's flag at half-mast to acknowledge the death of close friends.

"We've been good friends for quite a while … since they came here anyway," he said.

"We've been here since '62 and Ian came here just after that ... we were all great friends, the whole lot."

Smith said Ian Porteous would be remembered as a man who loved cricket and a face to be seen whenever there were dog trials on.

""There's a lot of people in town that would know Ian through cricket. Quite a few other things as well … dog trials and all that. A cricket man all right - he was a big cricket fan."

In a further blow to the bowling club the man who died in the truck accident on Kohi Rd on Monday, Anthony Stubbs, was also a member.

As the news of the crash was unfolding on Wednesday, a police officer turned up at the bowling club looking for relatives of Ian Porteous.

After that Smith saw media photos of the cars and his worst fears were realised, recognising the couple's car.

Crash victims Rosalie and Ian Porteous, Jeremy Thompson, Nivek Madams, Shady Thompson. Not pictured Ora Keene and Brenda Williams.

It was that same car Pam Hurndell had seen in the driveway of Ian and Rosalie Porteous' house just hours before the crash.

"To think I'd gone up the road and seen their car in the drive up there and then next thing you hear it's smashed up five minutes down the road," said Hurndell, who was a close friend of all four of the deceased.

"I've lived here all my life so I've known them all. They're all good workers and good people ... good family people. Yesterday was a shocker," she said. "I couldn't believe it. Still can't."

"They'll be so sadly missed around the place … I'll definitely miss them."

The Waverley Races were held yesterday with the crash site looming in the background.

The jockeys in the first race all wore black armbands as a mark of a respect to the victims.

Waverley Race Club president Sam Lennox said the races had to go on but there was a solemn feeling among those attending.

He said a lot of the people at the races knew the victims personally.

"It's a tragedy and it brings it home when it happens so close to us here with four locals dying.

"A lot of the members here I was just talking to are quite close to those at the bowling club."

Denis and Colleen Smith were at the races and had also been members of the club.

"Words will never cover what we feel ... we're all in shock at this stage. We'll all miss them terribly," Denis said. "The club's only a very small club and that's a big hole in it."

Colleen said: "The whole four of them were lovely. They were a really great family. They were really great mates the whole four of them."

She said she had driven the school bus between Waverley and Patea for a number of years and was perplexed the crash happened where it did.

"That part of the road - there was nothing wrong with the road ... you can't say it was the conditions because there was no frost, it was a beautiful day. I just think it was the wrong place at the wrong time."