A community Mass for the five teens killed in Saturday's Timaru car crash was held at Sacred Heart Basilica on Thursday. I have been profoundly affected by the tragedy in which five boys died in the South Island’s worst crash in two decades. The Timaru tragedy has hit me particularly hard because it’s reminiscent of a car crash that devastated my own family. Back in 1997, four partying 15-year-old boys piled into a car without seatbelts, then through a fence, then over a 30-metre bank. This isn’t a matter of boys will be boys, but kids battling their own brains to make it through to adulthood unscathed.

Source: Stuff August 18, 2021 17:02 UTC