The man’s wife earlier said her husband was a fisherman back home in Kiribati. They had moved to New Zealand in 2023 with their four children, RNZ reported on Thursday.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said her husband and her nephew – who had just moved to New Zealand in December – were taking their usual route to work in Warkworth early morning when they were swept away by water on Falls Rd.

The woman said both had fallen into the water with the vehicle, and her husband had pushed her nephew so he could grab on to a branch.

However, her husband could not get back to land himself.

“When [the nephew] held on the branch, he called, ‘Uncle, please come and grab on my leg and both go to the land’,” RNZ reported.

“Then [my] husband tried to grab, but then he knows that he’s so heavy, because he’s bigger than his nephew. I think like, when he saw his nephew like that, he didn’t want to pull him back, so he untied his hand and says ‘Go on, go and find life, while I’m going to swim this way and find another branch’.”

The death has been referred to the Coroner.