The head tutor for female students at Mailefihi Siu’ilikutapu college in Vava’u has died in New Zealand today January 1, 2016.
Leotisia Malakai, 55, was seriously injured after a bus she was travelling on with 52 others plunged down an embankment on December 24, 2016.
The fatal crash now has claimed three lives including student Sione Taumālolo, 11, and wife and mother Talita Moimoi Fifita, 33.
The bodies of Taumalolo and Fifita had been flown back home to Tonga on Saturday morning.
Malakai’s body is understood to be at the Waikato hospital in Hamilton.
A spokesperson for the group at Ponsonby has confirmed the sad news this afternoon.
The passengers were all members of a brass band group which arrived in Auckland from Vava’u, Tonga, to fundraise for the college’s 70th anniversary next year.
Condolences started pouring in on social media for Malakai.
Her cousin Tufui Fonua Kama wrote: “Fly High Aunty Leotisia Malakai
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