The girlfriend of one of the three teenage siblings killed in a horror crash in far northwest NSW on Monday has revealed the last words she spoke to her boyfriend before he died.
Jack Pink, 19, was driving north in a Pantech truck full of furniture when he collided head-on with a southbound fuel tanker on the Newell Hwy near Boggabilla just after 6am.
He died at the scene and his two sisters, Marina, 17, and Destiny, 15, who were travelling behind him, were also killed as their vehicle also collided with the tanker and burst into flames.
Marina Pink, 18, Jack Pink, 19 and Destiny Pink, 15, were all killed in a car crash yesterday in New South Wales. Photo / Supplied
The teens were part of a tight-knit family of nine.
Their father Glenn Pink was travelling ahead of his three children and heard about the crash on a two-way radio. Their New Zealand-born mother Jaze went to Auckland's Long Bay College and has posted heartfelt messages of her loss.
In a Facebook post, girlfriend Monica Watkins said, "not only did I just lose my boyfriend today, but I lost my future".
The moving eulogy to Jack includes the final sentence she uttered to Jack before he set off home with his sisters and father from Dubbo in central western NSW to Beenleigh, south of Brisbane.
"My last words to you were 'I love you so much, goodnight and drive safe tomorrow' and you told me that you loved me back and told me to have a good sleep," Monica wrote.
"I just can't get over the fact that we were talking about our future last night and how you wanted to get a blue cattle dog.
"One day I will buy a blue cattle dog and I will name him Jack, because that's all you wanted."
Monica said she missed "cuddling" Jack and now felt numb.
To the love of my Jack Pink
Thank you so much for all of our amazing memories, thank you so much for constantly loving me. Thank you for giving me the chance to love you and spoil you.
I will never ever forget the last time I seen you at the airport when you were going home and you kissed me and gave me the biggest hug and just smiled at each other. I won't ever forget you.
I've never been so sure about someone in my life, not only did I just lose my boyfriend today but I lost my future. I just can't get over the fact that we were talking about our future last night on the phone and how you wanted to get a blue cattle dog and I could get the small dog I wanted. You were so so so happy, we were both so happy, but without you now I feel numb, I don't feel happy at all. I just need you back Jack, honestly I just need you back. You were the best boyfriend anyone could ask for, you did so much for me. Thank you for coming to see me at Grafton, I will never ever take our memories for granted. I'm so glad I got to spend all that time alone with you and just cuddling. I just want to wake up from this horrible dream, I don't want this to be true. I've lost my other half, the love of me life, my number one. I always told you how much I love you and how you were my number one. I even told you I can't be without you, so please don't make me be without Jack. Please just come and visit me, please don't go. I'm not ready for you to go, I don't think I ever will be. I wish you were coming to pick me up tomorrow, I wish we were still going for lunch. You did so much for me Jack and I just will never take it for granted honestly.
I liked you since Tamworth but I was always too scared to tell you that I did incase you didn't feel the same way. But turns out you did, and when we were honest with each other at Muswellbrook we builded our relationship into some that was just so beautiful. You were such a beautiful person inside and out, and you were always there for me, so don't stop being here for me now. This is definitely not a good bye, because you will never leave my side and I know you want. You are still my amazing boyfriend Jack. Just because you're not here doesn't mean I will stop loving you. One day I will buy a blue cattle dog and I will name him Jack, because that's all you wanted. The way you would always tell me you wanted to move into together next year, the way you would tell me that you love me. My last words to you were 'I love you so much, goodnight and drive safe tomorrow' and you told me that you loved me back and told me to have a good sleep.
I just can't believe this has happened to such an amazing person. Because we don't deserve to be without each other Jack. We were just so in love and I know that you loved me with all of your heart and you knew that I loved you with all of my heart. We had nothing but happiness. You are my happiness Jack, you always will be my happiness. Thank you so much for our time together but we aren't coming to end, not yet, not ever. We will always be together and love each other. If I ever have kids and I have a boy he's middle name will be Jack, because I always just want you around. I love you so so so much Jack and I just miss you so much. Not a goodbye, because I'm so sure that you will come and visit me in my dreams tonight. I will be waiting for you big boy 💖💖💖💖💖
Fly high my angel
"You were the best boyfriend anyone could ask for, you did so much for me," she wrote. "I just need you back Jack, honestly I just need you back."
Jack's sister Marina would have celebrated her 18th birthday on Tuesday.
Jaze Pink, the teenagers' Kiwi mother, left a moving tribute to Marina on Facebook saying she missed her daughter "more than words could ever say" and encouraged others to raise a glass in her honour.
Friends have also been posting on social media to mark the passing of the siblings.
"Destiny, Jack and [Marina] were all angels taken way too soon," wrote one.
Emergency services found Mr Pink at the roadside. Travelling in front, he looped back when he heard the accident on a two-way radio and discovered the carnage.
Mrs Pink encouraged well wishers to buy a drink to mark what would have been Marina 18th birthday "in every good bar of every town in every city."
Other friends and family members took to social media to celebrate the close knit family.
"Destiny, Jack and yourself were all angels taken way too soon," said Jayne Russell. "Your constant happiness, infectious smile and vibrant personality will remain with us all forever and always."
Jack Gill, a friend of Destiny, said on Facebook. "You were taken from us too young. You had such an incredible, enthusiastic, beautiful soul and a loving, soft heart that deserved longer on this earth".
Jack Pink was remembered as a "beautiful person" by Idaho-Anderson Gray.
"I can't even believe I'm writing this, Life is not fair. All the showman angels will forever look after you now," said Leesha Gill of the lost Pinks.
"As you can imagine this is an incredibly difficult time for their parents Jaze & Glenn and siblings Coral, Jeanna, George & Patrick," the page reads. "Marina, one of seven children to parents Jaze and Glenn Pink, was just a day short of her 18th birthday.
"All gone at the same time ... to lose 1 would be crazy. They lost 3 in 1 split second is just out of this world," family wrote.
"Jaze and Glenn are good people with an amazing family ... what they do is everything for the kids.
"They are great people and their sacrificial love for their kids knows no bounds. This is a crushing blow to this tight knit family."
A GoFundMe page set up for the Pink family had raised more than A$85,000 by 5pm today, with a goal of A$100,000.
The driver of the petrol tanker was thrown from the vehicle and was flown to Toowoomba Hospital with face and back injuries.
The grisly scene remained nearly untouched 12 hours after the crash as NSW Fire and Rescue crews worked to empty the tanker before the bodies and significant wreckage could be removed.
Extra resources were being deployed from Sydney to help Barwon area police, and crash investigators from Tamworth were called in.
"It's just a dead boring stretch of highway," one local said. "Unless you go all the back tracks ... that's the way you go to Sydney."
Barwon Police Detective Inspector David Silversides said his officers were constantly asking people to take care on the Newell.
"There is an ongoing message to the community to be mindful of fatigue and all those other factors," he said.
