ELANI Vua was inconsolable as she reflected on her last moments with her 14-year-old son just minutes before his involvement in a tragic accident on Wednesday morning.
Ms Vua said her family had just finished breakfast when she received the devastating call from a relative regarding her son Eliki Salusalu Delai’s death after he’d slipped while trying to board a bus at Davota in Tavua.
“I never believed that it would happen. I had just left my son that morning,” she said.
“I told my siblings that I didn’t have anything but I wanted to go see my son.
“As we were waiting, I looked over to the side and saw my son lying under the bus with his bag.”
Ms Vua said the police prohibited her from going near her son’s body.
“It was only when they were putting his body in the bag and then onto the transport that my husband also boarded the police vehicle and I followed in the carrier.
“I only got to see him in hospital. When they opened the bag and I saw his body and the condition it was in, I couldn’t believe it. Everything at the top of his head was gone including his eyes.”
Ms Vua said eyewitnesses claimed the bus was overcrowded and her son had been standing on the steps at the entrance.
“Normally, there are two buses servicing this route but yesterday only one came. My son was only 14 years old. What hurts me the most is that everyone liked him. His schoolwork was progressing and he even played soccer for the Tavua team.”
Ms Vua said funeral arrangements would be made once the family received the post-mortem examination report.
“It hurts me that my husband and I had not even relayed the message of my son’s passing before numerous calls started coming in and people saying they had heard about what happened to my son.”
