Airport Pickup Turned into Road Fatality for Khan Family

A son’s trip from Nausori to Nadi International Airport on Sunday to pick his father, who was returning from Australia, ended as Fiji’s first road fatality of 2024.

Dead is Aiyaz Khan, 41, who Police said died after the taxi he was a passenger in, collided with a private vehicle along the Queens Highway near the Warwick Fiji Beach Resort on the Coral Coast.

Mr Khan was on his way to Nadi to pick his father, Mohammed Ishaq, who was returning from Sydney after attending a family function.

Mr Ishaq, a vendor at the Nausori Market, is reeling from shock after the accident.

“I came out at the airport, looked everywhere for him, waited but could not see him,” he said yesterday.

“One of my taxi drivers came, I asked him where was my son because he was supposed to pick me. My taxi driver said he is busy.

“I called my daughter-in-law. She said to come to the Sigatoka hospital. I saw my son lying down, he was dead.”

Father of the latest fatality, Mohammed Ishaq mourns the death of his son, Aiyaz Khan (insert) who died in an accident along the Queens highway near Warwick Fiji resort along the Coral Coast on January 7, 2023. Photo: Leon Lord

He said the last conversation they had was on Sunday morning to arrange for his pick-up at the airport.

Mr Ishaq said his son always looked after his market stall when he travelled abroad.

“He was a very kind person. Everybody liked him and he was always happy. Every time I close my eyes, I could see my son in front of me.”

Mr Khan works for his father as a taxi driver, married and has two children.

The accident is the first road fatality of the year.

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