Gisborne couple among nine tragically lost in Fiji's first major air disaster 45 years ago

A Fiji Air Britten-Norman Islander like the one which crashed on July 12 1979 in Fiji, killing all on board. Picture by Martijn Koetsier

The Fiji Times has just published a story recalling Fiji’s first major air tragedy 45 years ago — an event in which a young married couple from Gisborne were killed.

On July 15, 1979, the people of Fiji were shocked by the news of a plane crash in which nine people died. The Fiji Air plane had crashed on a hill near Bua airstrip on Thursday, July 12.

The twin-engined Britten-Norman Islander plane left Nausori Airport that morning, and was scheduled to arrive at Bua airstrip 40 minutes later.

Bua is at the south end of Fiji’s second-largest island, Vanua Levu.

Later, villagers living in hills around the airstrip reported that they had heard the drone of an approaching plane and then a crash.

The hills were shrouded in mist and cloud at the time.

After hearing a broadcast asking Bua people to help with the search, villagers set out and found the wreck two days later on Saturday, July 14.

The wreckage was in the jungle on a hill 9.6km north-east of the airstrip.

The villagers cut and cleared a landing pad half a mile from the wreck and lit a signal fire to guide a helicopter to the crash site.

Police stood guard over the crash and the dead were brought out by helicopter to Bua, then transported by fixed-wing plane to Suva.

The eight passengers and the pilot had died  on impact, director of Civil Aviation Mike Varley said.

Those on board the plane were: honeymooners John and Sandy Stevenson, tourists, of Gisborne, New Zealand; Fiji residents from Lami — Ruth Manulevu; her sister-in-law, Mary Ah Tong; Elizabeth Peckham and her brother, William Peckham; Esala Delana of Suva, Aritema Warua of Macuata; and the pilot, Captain Gary Cope, aged 24, from Melbourne, Australia.

Auckland newspapers at the time reported that the passengers included an Auckland woman’s sister, brother and two aunts who were travelling to their mother’s funeral.

The Fiji crash was in the same year as the Erebus disaster when Air New Zealand flight 901 crashed in Antarctica, killing all 257 people on board.

Sources - Fiji Times, Papers Past.