A friend of the family whose daughter died while whitebaiting on the West Coast wants to help preserve the nine-year-old's memory.
Emily Branje died after being swept out to sea in Hokitika on Thursday. She had been spending the school holidays with extended family when the incident happened. A 67-year-old man was recovered from the water but attempts to rescue Emily failed.
Abby Briggs, a friend of the family, has set up a Givealittle page for Emily Branje's family. She says Emily's mother, Janine, supported her through her daughter's cancer treatment.
"She brought round some meals and stuff which was super helpful, and just keeping in contact and being a good friend and checking in and seeing how it's going and catching up," says Briggs.
She says there has been an outpouring of support for the family, with almost $4,000 raised so far.
"The funds will be able to be used for the initial period to help them with their expenses and then going forward as a way to preserve Emily's memory," says Briggs.
"Emily was vibrant, so very talented with the most contagious personality, she always made those around her laugh," the page says. "She was a passionate and talented highland dancer and fencer and committed to the environment, a keen speedway fan and went on many 4WD trips."
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Briggs says the death is a tragedy.
"A lot of people have been just by the beach and doing stuff like that before and these things can happen quite quickly and suddenly - I just want to help the family through this."
Emily's family released a statement on Friday saying they were "in shock and grief after receiving the news" and were struggling to come to terms with what had happened.
Newshub.
