Nine Australians killed in chopper crash



This was published 16 years ago

Nine Australians killed in chopper crash

Tragedy has struck Australia's relief effort on Nias, with a Navy helicopter crashing, killing nine personnel on board.

The chopper crashed while on approach to Amandraya village on the remote west coast of Nias.

The Sea King helicopter had been ferrying an emergency medical team from the Kanimbla to the village as part of relief efforts to outlying areas of Nias following a devastating earthquake on Monday.

The helicopter crashed on approach to land, Kanimbla captain Commander George McGuire told journalists who had been on board the Kanimbla for a media tour.

He said two on board the helicopter survived and were airlifted to the Kanimbla for emergency surgery by the ship's second helicopter, which landed with a medical team after seeing smoke from the crash site.


"They are in a serious condition with leg fractures and other injuries," Cmdr McGuire said.

"We believe the rest of the personnel died."

On board the chopper were five naval personnel as well as three from the Air Force and one member of the Army.

Seven of the dead were male and two were female.

The Kanimbla immediately scrambled its second helicopter to inspect the crash zone for a second time after Indonesian military authorities in the area suggested the other nine passengers on board may have survived.

But an hour later the 300 ship's crew members were informed that all nine had been killed, their bodies found in the wreckage by a team of paramedics and rescue personnel.

Cmdr McGuire immediately dispatched the Kanimbla to the rescue site and tonight it was steaming around the southern tip of Nias to take up station near a river leading to the village where the chopper crashed.

"That location is a very remote location," he said, adding that the trip would take about six hours to steam to the site where the chopper, callsign "Shark 02", went down.

Shattered staff on the Kanimbla cried and bowed their heads in shock in the ship's mess room when Cmdr McGuire broke the news that no other survivors had been found.

In the ship's cavernous hold, which had been converted into an emergency hospital ward, about 20 military doctors were caring for the two wounded crew members, conducting on-the-spot X-rays in preparation for surgery.

The Navy confirmed that all nine personnel killed in the crash were Australians.

Both pilots were killed and the two survivors were both male.

One had fractures and the other was believed to be in a very critical condition.

The Navy confirmed that those killed were the five naval personnel, three from the Air Force and one Army member.

Journalists on board the Kanimbla were barred from reporting news of the crash until all family members had been informed and the second helicopter on board Kanimbla had confirmed no more survivors.

The Kanimbla had only just reached the area this morning after steaming from Singapore, where crew had been enjoying shore leave after a three-month posting to Aceh.

The rescue mission was the second of the day and both helicopters earlier had returned from Peruk Dalam, on the south of the island, where they had airlifted four Indonesians to the ship for emergency care.

The Kanimbla has a fully equipped operating theatre with two doctors and two anaesthetists who had been operating through the afternoon and tonight were fighting to save the life of their critically injured crewmate.


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