By Staff Writer
What started off as a much need holiday work break ended in tragedy for RSE worker Tino Tagiilima, a Samoan father-of-five, who died in a fatal car accident on Monday, New Zealand time.
The Minister of Commerce Industry and Labour, Lautafi Selafi Purcell, offered on behalf of the Government, condolences to the grieving family at his passing.
The RSE worker’s scheme is under the Minister’s Cabinet portfolio and his thoughts also went out to the 10 other RSE workers who were injured, some seriously.
“Nobody wants to see anything like this happened but tragedies do happen,” Lautafi sympathized.
“We have a saying that; “We sleep unknowingly in peace while misfortune lurks for us to wake up to.”
The Minister appreciates the “noble gesture’ by the employing company whose intentions were to send the workers to enjoy a holiday break when the fatal road crash occurred.
He counted up to three workers under the scheme who had died in Australia and New Zealand from recent road accidents and is saddened at the way it reflected the work programme in a bad light.
“The accident this week was the result of a goodwill gesture to give our RSE workers time off to enjoy some down time.
“It should not take away also from the ongoing effort by Government to look for job opportunities that will benefit our people and the families at home.”
New Zealand media reports of the fatal crash said the workers were travelling in three separate vans to holiday in Taupo.
The deceased, Tagiilima was sitting in the front passenger seat at the time accident when the van he was in was struck from behind by a truck.
“The collision sent the truck down a nearby bank – taking a large chunk of the road’s barrier with it,” wrote the New Zealand Herald.
“The crash comes almost two months after another seasonal worker from Samoa, Selesele Vaetasi Mati Asiata, 36, was killed in a similar crash in late August.
“The father-of-one was a passenger in a van full of workers heading home after a day’s work when they crashed on SH2 in the Bay of Plenty.”
RSE Cabinet Minister Lautafi is reluctant to talk about the fatal accident this week while police investigations are continuing into what happened.
