The principal of the school attended by the 11-year-old girl killed in Saturday's bus crash near Ōhakune says her fellow pupils were shocked to hear of the death and are being offered support.
Aucklander Hannah Francis died after the Ruapehu Alpine Lifts shuttle bus she was on crashed on Ōhakune Mountain Road.
Eighteen others were injured in the crash.
Read more: Ōhakune residents reeling after bus tragedy: 'We've just gotta try and pick ourselves up'
Glen Eden Intermediate Principal Maree Stavern said pupils at her school were told of the death "first thing" yesterday and are being offered support.
"We just really carefully outlined what had happened and of course the whole class was really shocked with what happened to Hannah," Ms Stavern said.
A young girl died and other passengers were injured in Saturday’s crash. (Source: Other)
"This is the first time in my career - 35 years - that I've had a student die at the school that I've been working at - so it is really unusual and it's really difficult for students of this age to comprehend and understand the implications around it all.
"We're making sure that they know if they've got any questions or they want to talk at any time we're there, but above all of that we're keeping routines as much as usual so that they have some security ... that things will be OK.
"Hannah was an absolutely lovely girl, all her classmates speak really strongly of the fact that she was always nice, she had some really good friends, she was a really good student.
"We don't know about the funeral at this stage - what we certainly will do is if any students do want to do something special for Hannah we're going to let them lead that - they'll have ideas, they know her really well."
Read more: Family of girl killed in Ruapehu bus crash release touching tribute - 'Fly free our beautiful angel'
The horror crash killed a young girl on the bus. (Source: Other)
The precise cause and circumstances around the accident are being investigated.
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