A baby and a toddler have been named as two of the three people who died in an Ashburton crash yesterday.
The crash happened at the intersection of Mitcham Road and Hepburns Road shortly after 10am.
Nineteen-month-old Te Awanuiarangi Shayelous-Jay Matenga Tapiata-Harmer and eight-month-old Wysdom Amara Francis Tony Jane Tapiata-Harmer were killed, as well as 30-year-old Chante Alissa Harmer.
They were from Ashburton.
A Givealittle page set up by Chante Harmer's cousin, Ashleigh Harmer, identifies the victims as mother and children.
She wrote the news had "rocked us [as] a whānau".
"To give you a sense of the kind of person that Chante was; she was kind, caring and generous with the little that she had," the post says. "She is and will always be known as a person who had the biggest heart."
Chante Harmer had another child who passed away due to SIDS in 2006.
"She was a strong person who had experienced and overcome a lot of adversity but above all Chante cherished and loved her children," her cousin wrote.
They are survived by Chante Harmer's four remaining children and partner.
The crash happened just hours after five people not wearing seat belts were killed as their car crashed into a tree near Taupō . Another man died in a crash near Auckland Airport yesterday, after crashing into a nearby lake.
Yesterday's nine deaths on New Zealand roads marked the highest single-day road toll in more than a decade.
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