One hundred and fifty-one people were killed in the 1953 Tangiwai train disaster when an overnight express train from Wellington to Auckland plunged into the Whangaehu River after the bridge had been taken out by a lahar from Mt Ruapehu. Among those killed was 19-year-old Nerissa Love, the fiancee of New Zealand cricketer Bob Blair, who was playing a test in South Africa at the time.
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