Young survivor fights on at Vaiola Hospital [1]
Thursday, November 6, 2008 - 17:33. Updated on Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - 15:55.
Maile Mataele, the 17 year old survivor of the tragic accident that took the lives of four Liahona High School boys on October 31, fights on at Vaiola Hospital despite being on life support and in a coma.
His elder sister Astrid Mataele (25) confirmed today that Maile was conscious and talking when he was rushed to the hospital on the day of the accident but he went into a coma six hours later and still is on life support. The family is hoping to send him to New Zealand for care.
"He remains in a critical condition but he is stable. He cracked his collar bone, has a broken leg and other symptoms and we are planning to send him over there for better monitoring of his condition since he is a New Zealand citizen."
"But we are still waiting on the New Zealand High Commission who still have some issues to work out," she added. "In the meantime we ask that everyone pray for my brother's fight to live and we pray that he will make it through."
Astrid said Maile was a Form 6 student at Liahona High School and was not at the graduation ceremony but at their home in Kolomotu'a when the boys came and picked him up after their graduation ceremony on Friday.
She said the teenagers who died, George Uata, Francis Tafuna, Sailosi Paea 'Otuafi Jr and James Talanoa, came from an extended family. The two survivors are Maile and Dean Sekona, who were among the six boys riding in a RAV4 that left the road and collided with a tree at Lomaiviti.
She confirmed that the boys were all Form six students and George, Francis and Dean graduated earlier on the day of the accident.
Brothers and cousins
Astrid also confirmed that Maile and Francis are biological brothers born to 'Amelia and Maile Mataele (a son of Joe Tu'ilatai Mataele with second wife Lola) of Kolomotu'a.
Their father died in a car accident in 1990 and Francis was adopted by his grandmother's sister Tita Tafuna and her husband Sione, of Liahona.
George Uata and James Talanoa are first cousins and both were the grandchildren of Ha'apai People's Representative 'Uliti Uata and his wife Lu'isa. George is Tu'i Uata's son while James is a son of Melenaite Talanoa who Tu'i's sister.
Astrid confirmed that the Uata grandchildren were also related to Maile and Francis since their grandfather Joe Tu'ilatai Mataele is Lu'isa Uata's first cousin.
Sailosi Paea 'Otuafi Jr and James Talanoa were also first cousins on James's father's side.
Dean Sekona who suffered minor injuries from the crash and is out of the hospital was also connected to the Mataele family, Astrid added.
Friends and families of the four teenagers who died have put up memorial messages on web pages such as bebo and facebook in memory of their young lives.