The mother of a five-year-old girl killed by a truck while alighting from a school bus has shared a tribute to her daughter on Facebook.
“Love you so much,” Salafai Loimata captioned a smiling photograph of herself with her child who started kindergarten at Tacoma Public School on the NSW Central Coast just two months ago.
Mariasusana Vaafusuaga, known as "Sana", was on her way home from school on Wednesday afternoon when she stepped in front of a truck at around 3.40pm, while trying to cross the road to her waiting mum, according to the Seven Network.
It was her first day back after the Easter break.
Despite the best efforts of paramedics, the little girl died at the scene, leaving her tight-knit Samoan-Australian family reeling.
“We have faith in Jesus Christ so we believe she is in a better place,” her uncle Allan Jones told The Daily Telegraph.
"She loved school ... She was only saying the other day she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up."
Ordinarily, Sana would have held hands with her older sister Philomena, her aunt Malili Foini told the newspaper but yesterday she didn't, which may have been a blessing in disguise.
"If they had held hands the truck may have taken them both," she said.
Heartbreakingly, the accident occurred right in front of Sana's older sibling, as well as her mother who was on the opposite side of the street.
Several people offered their condolences to the family on Facebook, remembering the "beautiful girl" taken too soon.
"Gone but not forgotten," one wrote.
"Rest in peace Sana we miss [your] smiling beautiful face," added another.
Top Comments
Completely agree
I really wish the media would stop trawling through the family's Facebook accounts (public or not) when someone dies tragically. It feels so voyeuristic. Compiling a list of comments from a Facebook account is not journalism.