The family of a nine-year-old schoolgirl who died in a whitebaiting accident are urging parents not to forget about health and safety during the school holidays.
Emily Branje was whitebaiting on the Hokitika River when she was caught by a rogue wave.
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One week after her death, hundreds of people gathered at her school for her farewell.
"What she has crammed into her small life, most of us who are a lot older have never been able to achieve that," Emily's grandmother said.
The Christchurch schoolgirl was holidaying in Hokitika when a whitebaiting adventure with a 69-year-old relative took a fatal turn.
The nine-year-old was swept down the Hokitika River, and a desperate three-day search on land, from the air and the sea came to an end when her body was found up the coast near Greymouth.
It was a freak accident, but her parents don't want it to happen to anyone else.
They're raising money to fund extra rescue equipment to be placed at the side of the river to give others a better chance of survival.
"We miss you every day - you are now free to dance with the angels," Emily's dance teacher said at the farewell today.
The schoolgirl's dancing friends also paid tribute the best way they knew how - by dancing.
Newshub.
