Airman's worry was fate of mates

Survivor Sergeant Stevin Creeggan. Photo / NZDF

One of Sergeant Stevin Creeggan's first concerns when he regained consciousness was the fate of his fellow helicopter crew members.

Mr Creeggan is the sole survivor of Sunday's Iroquois helicopter crash, after he crawled from the wreckage and pinned himself against a bush on a steep slope until help arrived.

The Air Force sergeant suffered serious chest, spinal and leg injuries and although he is expected to make a full recovery his family expect the road will be long and hard.

One of the first questions he asked was the fate of Flying Officer Daniel Gregory, Flight Lieutenant Hayden Madsen and Corporal Benjamin Carson and he was shocked when told of their deaths.

"It took a while to sink in ... he had difficulty comprehending it," said Mr Creeggan's uncle, Bill Gregory.

"He is also trying to fathom why he survived. There were four on board the aircraft. He survived, they didn't, and he is questioning why."

Mr Creeggan is now able to speak, though not always coherently, and has talked about clambering up and down the steep hill. But he has yet to speak of the moments before the accident, or whether he will fly again.

Mr Gregory said for a brief moment on Sunday, when an official announcement said all four had died, the family had a window into the grief of the families of the three dead men.

Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said yesterday that he would personally apologise to the family for what he called an "unfortunate mistake".

"I must take responsibility for that. I apologised on the day through the media, but will apologise to the family personally."

Mr Creeggan's brother, Mark, had earlier lashed out on his Facebook page: "Us family members find it hard enough to deal with when all we knew was there was a crash ... I hope they make you formally apologise to the [families] you put [through] hell over the last few hour[s]."

Yesterday Mr Gregory said the family had accepted miscommunications happened. "I can understand Mark's anger, but at the end of the day, it's something that happened not out of malice, just out of a breakdown in communication and we really don't want to waste our time looking back at that."

The family expressed their gratitude for the help and support they had received, including from emergency services, hospital staff, Defence Force colleagues and New Zealanders they did not know.

"The family is just so grateful that Stevin is still with us today ... the messages we have received and the thoughts have deeply touched us."