'Absolutely devastated': Pair killed in Welcome Bay landslide named

6:46pm
Austen Keith Richardson and his Nai Nai, Yao Fang. (Source: NZ Police)

Two people who died following a landslide in Pāpāmoa on Thursday have been formally named by police.

They were Austen Keith Richardson, 10, and his grandmother, 71-year-old Yao Fang.

"Police continue to support the family through this extremely difficult time," police said.

Austen and his grandmother were killed after a slip extensively damaged their house on Welcome Bay Rd around 4.15am on January 22.

In a statement this evening, Austen was remembered by his parents, Keith and Angel, as a "gifted musician" who "loved piano, was extremely mechanically minded, loved building Lego, riding motorbikes, Pokémon and solving maths equations".

"The weekend before the tragedy, we visited the Kumeū Classic Car and Hot Rod Festival before surprising him with his dream motocross bike from a mate on the way home. This will forever be a treasured memory."

Austen was due to start Year 7 at Bethlehem College after attending Arataki School.

The grieving parents said he shared an "incredibly close relationship" with his "Nai Nai" and were "lucky to have Fang spend so much time with us as a family".

"She was a beautiful mother and grandmother, deeply caring, so generous and always prioritising looking after others ahead of herself," the statement read.

Austen and his grandmother at the airport. (Source: NZ Police)

Yao worked as an architect in China while raising Angel as a single mother.

"She loved the nature in New Zealand, helped us grow an incredible vegetable garden, looked after our chickens, and joined us at Chinese Methodist Church in Greerton.

"We are grateful for the amazing support we have received from family and friends, the wider community as well as the emergency services and support agencies who have wrapped around us as we come to terms with this.

"We are absolutely devastated by the loss of our treasured son and his beloved Nai Nai.

"Our thoughts are also with the other families impacted by the Mount Maunganui tragedy and what they are going through."

Their deaths have been referred to the coroner.

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