An elderly man died and two were seriously injured in a road crash on State Highway 3. Emergency services were called to the scene, approximately five kilometres north of the Awakino Tunnel, Waitomo District at around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 19.
The man was identified to be Haji Abu Bakar Ramli, 56, a Malaysian national living with his family in New Plymouth. The family moved from Malaysia to New Plymouth eight years ago.
According to Mr Ramli’s daughter, Nurghaklisaa Aquila Abu Bakar, the family was relocating to Auckland when the accident happened. Mr Ramli’s wife and daughter were travelling in the car following him and escaped the crash.
Ms Bakar, the eyewitness of the accident, said her father’s car skid and collided with another vehicle coming from the other side of the bend and then hit the bank in the Awakino Gorge and he died due to the impact.
The driver of the colliding vehicle, a 62-year-old man, suffered serious chest and abdominal injuries and was taken by Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Taranaki Base Hospital in a serious condition. He is said to be in a stable condition now.
Ms Bakar stated that although she and her mother tried to help Mr Ramli, he did not respond. She added there were several doctors and nurses in the cars behind them who ran to help him but they could not revive her father.
She added that her father was a slow and a very cautious driver, and she could understand how it happened and what the car skidded on.
“Mr Abu Bakar was a loving and a soft-spoken person, and he was a very kind-hearted person,” a close family friend of Mr Ramli said.
“The whole family is devastated by this sudden turn of events, and the community is shocked by this news,” another friend of the family added. Friends and associates from Auckland and different parts of Waikato attended the funeral services, which was held on Monday, February 20.
“The funeral service was arranged at the New Plymouth Islamic Centre on Monday at 5:30 pm, after the Asr prayer, and he was buried at Awanui Cemetary in New Plymouth,” Adeel Baig, President of Muslim Association of Taranaki, said.
“A portion of Awanui Cemetary is reserved as a Muslim burial site allocated by the New Plymouth District Council,” he added.
