He passed out again from the shock.
Pedro Clariman was in the front seat of the family van when it crashed with a truck near Picton on June 19.
Eight of his family were in the van with him and were on their way home to Pukekohe after the funeral of an elderly aunt in Gore.
Pedro told 1News that he was sleeping next to his father Paul, who was driving.
Paul and Pedro’s mother, Diseree, were both murdered, along with Pedro’s partner Amber and six-month-old daughter Mika.
“When I woke up, I had nothing to hold on to but the door next to me,” Clariman told 1News.
Pedro paid tribute to his partner, saying he was incredulous about the tragic crash.
“She’s very caring, she takes care of me too much,” he said.
He said he was focused on supporting his brother Luie, who was still recovering in the hospital.
“I’m still blessed…my brother survived. I’m still grateful,” he told 1News.
The collision, which completely destroyed the van, was the deadliest incident on New Zealand’s roads since April 2019, when eight people were killed in a head-on crash near TaupÅ.
The nine relatives in the van had traveled from Auckland to Dunedin for a long road trip across the country – in a Toyota Hiace van – to say goodbye to Paul’s aunt in Gore, who had recently passed away.
They left Dunedin on Saturday afternoon and stayed overnight with a friend in Christchurch before continuing their journey home and departing at 2.30am on Sunday so they could make their ferry crossing to the North Island.
Pedro’s brother David had not traveled because he had to work at the local Pak ‘n Save supermarket in Pukekohe and also because he suffered from motion sickness.
“It’s just shocking to happen so quickly,” David told the Herald in June.
“In the blink of an eye, it’s all gone.”