Givealittle page<\/a> has been set up to cover the costs of funeral arrangements and to help with repair of the family vehicle that was badly damaged in the crash. <\/p>\nTulumi said he suffered cuts to his hand that required stitches, while his wife Loata had bruises caused by her seatbelt. <\/p>\n
He told the Herald their 2-year-old son Tui, known as TJ, has been most heavily impacted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe [Zera and Loata] are both doing okay and my hand\u2019s healed now, but my son is looking around for his sister.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hasn\u2019t just lost a sibling, he\u2019s lost his only living sister, his big sister, who meant the world to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Linda]()
Linda Tulumi and her two-year-old brother Tui, known as TJ. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Glen Innes School held a \u201csolemn\u201d assembly in Linda\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe passage from Matthew 5:48, \u201cBlessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted\u201d provides solace to the family. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe express gratitude for the communal support during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manukau ward councillor Lotu Fuli told the Herald she doesn\u2019t know the family personally but is \u201creally feeling for them\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart goes out to the wh\u0101nau, and I offer them my sincere condolences for the loss of their dearly loved daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are not enough words to console or comfort the family and I offer them my sincere sympathy. <\/p>\n
\u201cRIL Linda.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fuli said serious road-related injuries are disproportionately high in areas where people reply on cars for travel and have fewer transport choices.<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The fatal crash was at the intersection of Te Irirangi Drive and Smales Rd in East Auckland. Photo \/ Google Maps<\/p>\n
\u201cThe loss of even one life is not acceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u014ctara-Papatoetoe local boards have advocated for much more traffic-calming and speed-reduction initiatives in the area, including raised crossings and signage near schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tulumi told the Herald the night they lost her will \u201creplay\u201d in their minds \u201cforever\u201d.<\/p>\n
“All we have now are memories and they are not enough. We miss her voice. We miss her presence. We miss her, every second of every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease, every time you get behind the wheel, understand this: one reckless decision can take a child\u2019s life and leave a family broken forever. Drive like a life depends on it. Because it does.\u201d<\/p>\n
A witness to the crash claims the car and driver responsible \u201cflew in the air at speed\u201d before hitting a vehicle stopped at a traffic light.<\/p>\n
The person, who wished to remain anonymous, said the car she was a passenger in was approaching the traffic light when she saw a flash come through from the right and hit the car in front side-on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt pushed it all the way to our left and it hit another car along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just happened all so fast and it was so loud and the glass just flew everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police investigations into the person responsible for the crash are ongoing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cShe was always so happy, she never got angry and was always caring her for little brother. Their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[123311,36671,806,51,28822,1558,5822,31468,3944,32530,3549,14032,3806,2109,6868,51500,3375,6804,26158,6093,111,43,139,69,55401,15120,4918,190013,1337],"class_list":["post-360657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-9yearold","tag-always","tag-as","tag-auckland","tag-beautiful","tag-been","tag-bright","tag-brother","tag-car","tag-caring","tag-crash","tag-daughter","tag-east","tag-family","tag-girl","tag-happy","tag-killed","tag-light","tag-linda","tag-little","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-remember","tag-remembered","tag-soul","tag-tulumis","tag-victim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}