The local community of Katikati are in mourning after the tragic death of five local Tongan kiwifruit workers on Tuesday night.
The men were killed after their car was hit by an unladen logging truck as they left work in a Katikati kiwifruit coolstore.
Staff at Aongatete Coolstores placed flowers at the crash site on Wednesday morning before attending a blessing and cleansing ceremony at the packhouse, the last place where most of them had seen the five victims.
Packhouse manager Clive Exelby said there had been a tremendous outpouring of grief.
"At eight o clock last night we finished work, packing kiwifruit. And by quarter past eight we no longer had these five men working for us."
Firefighter Simione Vakasiuola arrived at the scene on duty not knowing who the victims were.
"It is my job to pull them out and a job that I refused to do last night because I know them," he said.
One of the victims Halani Fine had been living with him, and was in Katikati studying to be a youth counsellor.
He worked part-time at the coolstore for extra money alongside the four other victims who were all seasonal workers from Tonga.
Mr Vakasiuola said he was still in shock.
"I can't get the picture in my head at the moment but it was a very very sad thing to look at.
" I mean, you look at five people you know, died. And how to explain it? I don't know, I can't." he said.
Mr Exelby flew to Tonga in January and recruited the four seasonal workers himself.
He said the boys were well respected among staff and within the community.
Travel plans changed at last minute
He said two of the victims, father and son Sitiveni and Koli Vaipulu, were supposed to travel on the work bus, but changed plans at the last minute.
"They were very well liked. They're very jovial. They loved playing tricks on one another and joking with one another and that was one of the things they did last night." he said.
"The last thing they did was instead of going to the bus, they ran into the carpark because Halani was offering them a ride and they joked with the other Tongan men 'Haha, you didn't get a ride, we got a ride."
Sefita Hao'uli, the coordinator for Tongans in New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, said the remaining Tongan RSE workers in Katikati are grief-stricken.
"Many of the workers who make up this group are from Tongatapu itself and many are closely related. And they're mostly from the Ha'asini area in Tonga."
Mr Hao'uli said the victims were just nearing the end of their contract.
"One of them was here for the very first time this season," he said.
"The other two were here for over two years but one of the senior members of this group has been here since 2007. He's been here every year since the start of the RSE work program."
Mr Exelby said Sitiveni Vaipulu played a pivotal role in the company and both he and the other RSE victims were due to go home in two weeks.
"Well yesterday (Tuesday) I had actually just confirmed their air tickets to go back home," he explained.
"So we just booked those tickets and had them confirmed and there was excitement looking forward to getting back to their families."
After consultation among the workers, fellow RSE worker Apolosi Tu'angalu said they had all decided to return home early.
"We are heartbroken at what has happened. We really feel the loss of our colleagues," he said.
"We met this morning and we've all decided we want to return together with our colleagues who died. We'll just come back next year. We all just feel that we want to return together and take them home."
Sefita Hao'uli said the RSE workers were insured under the scheme which will cover the repatriation costs of the victims' bodies.
Donations encouraged to 'Five Fine Young Men' page
A Give-A-Little page has been created to donate money to the families of the men.
The chair of the Tongan Advisory Council Board, Melino Maka, said the page, called 'Five Fine Young Men' was created after the crash victims' employer expressed concern about the future of the surviving family members.
"Sending the bodies back to Tonga is relatively covered by insurance but he's worried about the families because he had a strong relationship with especially the Vaipulus.
"From there I rang some of the church leaders here and actually tried to convey and work out what we can do as a community to support the families after the funeral, because there will be financial challenges," said Mr Maka.
