A father-of-five died in a moped crash on his way to meet his children for a day at the beach.
Joseph Koa, from Honolulu, Hawaii, was hit and killed at around 6 p.m. on Nov. 27 near Ala Moana while riding his moped down Kapiolani Boulevard when he was hit by a car turning left, Honolulu police said.
The 34-year-old died from his injuries in hospital. Koa, who was not wearing a helmet, was a father of five who was headed to the beach to be with his four daughters and his son – all aged between 3 and 16 years old. Joseph’s mother Peggy Koa said: “Its just been really rough. As a family, we always were together and we always pulled together in times of crisis.
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“They should be burying us, you know? Not us burying our children. Its really hard. The main thing for me is his babies because his babies were everything to him. They were his world. He worked so hard to provide for all of them.” A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family. It comes a day after six people died in a car crash in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday night.
The crash, which happened on Raymond Boulevard, involved an airborne vehicle that struck a support column connected to the Pulaski Skyway. The vehicle had been traveling south on the road in Essex County, prosecutors said, when it turned toward the on-ramp to the southbound lanes of Routes 1 & 9 when it veered off the road.
That’s when it began flying, striking the support column, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said. Photos of the incident, which took place at approximately 10:45 p.m., show a burned, heavily damaged vehicle missing at least one wheel, NJ.com reported.
Either the impact with the column or the subsequent impact with the ground was likely what caused the vehicle to combust, prosecutors said. The crash remains under investigation, however.
It’s not yet clear what led to the fiery incident, specifically what caused the vehicle to veer off the road and become airborne. No other vehicles were impacted by the crash. All six individuals who died were inside the vehicle.
It’s believed they succumbed to burn injuries, with their corpses severely burnt by the fireball, RLS Media reported. All were pronounced dead at the scene. The identities of those who died have not yet been released.
It’s also not clear why the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is assisting the local authorities with investigating the crash. Nevertheless, the investigation continues, with the authorities promising more details as they become available.
News 12 New Jersey reported that family and friends of those who died could be seen visiting the crash site to pay their respects in the morning hours after it occurred. A police presence was in the area for several hours after the crash.
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