Blenheim widow learns of husband’s death; then is shocked to see her own name listed as the victim

A police error in naming the victim of a fatal crash has caused fresh grief for the family of the deceased man, after authorities mistakenly released his wife’s name instead of his.

Andres Bonifacio Hernan Vergara Oportot, 50, was killed in a crash on June 18 in Seddon, near Blenheim, New Zealand. Nearly three weeks later, on July 10, police contacted his wife, Lorena Vargas, to say they were preparing to release his name, a routine step in the process.

However, when the official statement was issued the following afternoon, it named “Lorena Vargas Burgos, 48, from Blenheim” as the deceased.


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More than 16 hours later, on Saturday morning, July 12, police issued a correction acknowledging the mistake. “Police are urgently issuing a correction to an earlier release that contained incorrect details of the person who died in a fatal crash in Seddon on 18 June,” the statement read.

“The correct name of the man who died is Andres Bonifacio Hernan Vergara Oportot, 50, from Blenheim.”

In comments to Stuff, Lorena Vargas said she had not been told directly by police about the mix-up. She only became aware that something had gone wrong when contacted by the media.

“I felt in shock really because I was thinking about my family in my country, if they can see the news,” said Vargas, who moved to New Zealand from Chile 15 years ago.

She expressed concern that online searches now wrongly show her as the crash victim and said she worried that someone might tell her 13-year-old twins their mother had died.

Despite the error, she praised the officers involved in the case for their kindness. “They were very good to me,” she told.

Vargas described her husband as a “happy, positive” family man who will be dearly missed. The couple had lived on the West Coast before settling in Blenheim, where Vergara worked in the viticulture industry, first at Villa Maria and later at Starborough winery.