{"id":452220,"date":"2026-05-30T05:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452220\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T05:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:13:09","slug":"south-island-vanuatu-community-leader-richie-george-dies-in-quad-bike-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452220\/","title":{"rendered":"South Island Vanuatu community leader Richie George dies in quad bike crash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThis family is now facing an unimaginable loss, while also carrying the financial pressure that comes with the sudden loss of a loved one,\u201d Florence said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">The page asked the community to come together and help ease some of the pressure put on his family during this incredibly difficult time.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A pillar of strength\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">George was also remembered earlier this week in a social media tribute by Vanuatu radio programme Yumi Talem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">Yumi Talem described George as more than just a brother and friend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHe was a pillar of strength for the Vanuatu community, especially across the South Island.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHe opened his home and heart to countless Ni-Vans, making everyone feel welcomed, safe, and connected to home while living far from Vanuatu,\u201d Yumi Talem wrote. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Richie George has been named as the victim of the accident on a Tai Tapu property early on Wednesday morning. Photo \/ Givealittle\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Richie George has been named as the victim of the accident on a Tai Tapu property early on Wednesday morning. Photo \/ Givealittle<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">The post said George was the first person to call in difficult times for many RSE workers, students, football players and families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThroughout the years, he played a major role in supporting the Bislama Language Week celebrations and continuously encouraged the preservation of our language, culture, and identity here in Aotearoa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cRichie was known as a leader, supporter, coordinator, and true servant of the people,\u201d Yumi Talem wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">A Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager said two crews from Lincoln responded to the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">They confirmed the incident did not occur on the road and referred all further inquiries to police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">WorkSafe earlier confirmed they had been notified of the incident and were working to determine if an investigation would be launched.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cOur thoughts are with the family, friends, and wider community affected by this loss,\u201d they said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rGEveXCr\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/the-daily-h-your-fast-smart-guide-to-the-days-biggest-headlines\/VQR5CULLQRECZP2ORSWPGDORBU\/?utm_source=nzherald&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_id=nz_cta\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/the-daily-h-your-fast-smart-guide-to-the-days-biggest-headlines\/VQR5CULLQRECZP2ORSWPGDORBU\/?utm_source=nzherald&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_id=nz_cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis family is now facing an unimaginable loss, while also carrying the financial pressure that comes with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1081,682,1070,1259,3549,72600,6179,7126,2209,12856,78,2514,13489,111,43,139,149193,69,60014,15120,44549,13556,1240,11787,30645,142351,2963],"class_list":["post-452220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accident","tag-being","tag-bike","tag-community","tag-crash","tag-devoted","tag-died","tag-dies","tag-father","tag-george","tag-in","tag-island","tag-leader","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nivanuatu","tag-nz","tag-quad","tag-remembered","tag-respected","tag-richie","tag-south","tag-tragic","tag-unexpected","tag-vanuatu","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452220","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=452220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}