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Titan McCall had lived in Australia for three years and was working at a mine in Boddington before his death.
The family of a 22-year-old who died in a car accident in Australia has to raise funds to cover the costs of transporting his body home for his tangi.
Titan McCall died on January 8 in a “tragic car accident” believed to have been caused by falling asleep at the wheel after finishing his night shift mining, his sister Le Reve McCall said from Auckland.
Her death was a great shock to the family, but the loss has been compounded by the fact that they have not been able to see her body or plan a date for her tangi, she said.
Now her mother, Fleur Robson, faces a bill of around $ 15,000 to bring her body from Western Australia and transport it to Makahae Marae in the Bay of Plenty.
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The cost has risen due to coronavirus border closures, resulting in fewer trips and more expensive flights.
“My mother is a single mother, she does not have that large sum of money saved.”
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Titan McCall died in a car accident on January 8 and it has been a long journey for his family to have his tangi.
Le Reve McCall said her mother would have liked to go to Western Australia, where Titan McCall had lived for the past three years.
But that would have involved 14 days of quarantine there and 14 days of quarantine upon return, and “too much time has passed,” he said.
The delay was caused in part by the police investigating the accident and the coroner did not want to release his body.
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Le Reve McCall, right, said that she and her younger brother, Titan, used to be very close.
But the situation was also made more difficult by the fact that Titan McCall’s girlfriend in Australia is not speaking to her family in New Zealand and initially did not want her body to be repatriated.
“She was listed as her closest relative in her workplace. Tragically, now that he’s lost, the bride has yet to get in touch with us; He’s trying to shut us out, ”Le Reve McCall said.
Lawyers had to be hired to reach a compromise, and now Titan McCall’s Western Australian whānau will have a funeral for him there, before he is brought back to New Zealand.
Le Reve McCall said that while the transportation costs are huge, and the tangi costs will be additional, she was impressed by the response to a Givealittle page she posted on Friday, with people donating more than $ 2,000.
“We’ve had so much support and it’s been absolutely amazing … It’s a huge help already,” he said.
“I regret not being there for him, but you don’t expect to never see your little brother again.”
