Thousands raised to help bring Toni Kelly's body home

  • 22/11/2017
The family of a young Kiwi who died in the UK has raised more than $33,000 to bring her home.
Toni Kelly died after an accident in London. Photo credit: GiveALittle

The sister of a young Kiwi woman who tragically died in London has thanked people for their support in helping to bring her body home.

A Givealittle page has raised more than $33,000 for Toni Kelly’s family, the Dargaville woman who was studying teaching in London when she died.

So far $33,717 has been donated to the Givealittle page set up to bring Ms Kelly's body home. Ms Kelly's sister Stacey expressed her thanks for the donations in a Facebook post on Monday.

"I just wanna say thank you from the bottom of my heart for the endless support so far," she wrote.

"We are completely lost for words & can't wait to be home."

The Givealittle page states that Ms Kelly's organs have been donated.

Transporting a deceased loved one home from overseas comes at huge financial cost. Grieving families have to pay for an overseas coroner to release the body and then pay for a space in the temperature-controlled hold of a plane, which costs significantly more than a seat for a living passenger. 

When the plane arrives, the family must pay another fee for their loved one's body to be released to them. In 2016 alone, more than 500 flights arrived in New Zealand carrying a dead body, Stuff reported.

Her aunt, Sharon Kelly, said in a Facebook post that her niece had died in an "awful accident" but did not provide any further details.

Newshub.