Footage from a survivor of Monday's deadly helicopter crash shows vision just before the choppers collide. Photo / 7 News
Footage from a survivor of Monday's deadly helicopter crash shows vision just before the choppers collide. Photo / 7 News
Footage taken inside the helicopter carrying the New Zealanders involved in the Sea World crash has revealed how one passenger tried to alert the pilot of something moments before the horrifying collision.
A passenger on the helicopter that landed without casualties took the chilling video during the joy flight.
In the video, the arm of one of the passengers can be seen tapping the pilot’s chair, with the video paused just before impact.
Pilot Ash Jenkinson, British newlyweds Ron and Dianne Hughes and Sydney mum Vanessa Tadros lost their lives after the two helicopters collided on the Gold Coast on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, New Zealand survivors of the helicopter crash have spoken out and described how a fun five-minute joy ride turned into a nightmare and praised the heroism of their pilot.
Aucklanders Elmarie and Riaan Steenberg and Edward and Marle Swart were holidaying in Queensland when they were caught up in Monday’s tragedy near Sea World. The couples’ helicopter landed on a sandbank after a mid-air collision with another chopper.
In a joint statement, the Steenbergs and Swarts said they were still coming to grips with the disaster that left four people dead and three others badly injured.
“On behalf of our families, we are completely devastated by the horrific helicopter accident that occurred on 2nd January. A fun 5-minute joy ride on vacation to Australia turned into a nightmare,” they said.
Elmarie and Riaan Steenberg and Edward and Marle Swart were on vacation in Queensland when the Sea World helicopter they were in collided with another on 2 January. Photo / Supplied
“Our deepest sympathies and sincere condolences to the injured and the deceased and their families.
“We are grateful and blessed to have been spared but very sad for the people who lost loved ones and the little ones and mum fighting for their lives in hospital. Our hearts are so heavy for them.
“Our gratitude goes out to every bystander who ran to help, every police officer and emergency services personnel who helped us with our immediate needs keeping us calm and making us comfortable. We saw mateship in action. Australians come together to help in time of need.
“We would like to extend our great thanks to the hospital staff taking care of us for their kindness and compassion during this traumatic experience.
“To our pilot, who, through all the chaos, landed the helicopter safely, keeping us and other bystanders safe. You are our hero. Thank you so very much.”
Elmarie Steenberg, who works for Barfoot & Thompson, wrote on Facebook yesterday: “To all my clients, friends and family. Yes, we were in the helicopter crash. I am still in hospital in the Gold Coast, recovering from my injuries.”All I can say [is] thank you to God for sparing all of us. Thank you for all your messages...love you all.”
Elmarie Steenberg and Marle Swart were on vacation in Queensland. Photo / Supplied
Meanwhile, one of the first people on the scene after the horrific Sea World helicopter crash has spoken out about the efforts to save the victims. Ron Drevlak and his wife were walking their dog on the Gold Coast when the horror happened just above their heads on Monday.
“The noise and the thud of it hitting the ground, I cannot get it out of my head,” Mr Drevlak told 7 News.
He and others immediately rushed to help those trapped inside the wreckage of the helicopter and was met with a horrific scene. Drevlak first saw Ron Hughes, who had been visiting the Gold Coast with his new wife Diane when they decided to board the helicopter.
“The first person I saw was Ron, we cut the seat belt we pulled him out and pulled him away but he was very pale,” he recounted.
The couple were among the four killed in the crash, with Sydney mother Vanessa Tadros, 36, also not making it out alive.
Vanessa Tadros was killed and her 10-year-old son Nicholas is in an induced coma on life support after Monday's helicopter crash on the Gold Coast.
His attention then turned to two other victims from the same helicopter, Winnie and Leon de Silva, a mother and son who had travelled to the Gold Coast for the school holidays when their trip turned into a nightmare.
“That’s when I heard Winnie, she was just screaming,” Drevlak said.
“I said, ‘look don’t worry, help is on the way, it’s only water we’re just trying to dilute the fuel’.”
De Silva remains in a critical condition at Gold Coast University Hospital while Leon is in a stable condition at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.
Winnie De Silva from Geelong and her son Leon were injured in a helicopter crash on the Gold Coast. Photo / Supplied
Another boy, the 10-year-old son of crash victim Vanessa Tadros, also remains in a critical condition at Gold Coast University Hospital.
A helicopter with seven people on board was taking off when its main rotors collided with a landing helicopter with six people on board, causing “considerable damage”, Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell told reporters on Tuesday.
The main rotor blade and gearbox of the “taking-off” helicopter separated from the aircraft, causing it to plunge at least 200m onto the sandbar. The second “landing” helicopter was “remarkably” able to land upright on the sandbar despite “considerable damage” to the front of the aircraft.
“It was a remarkable job considering the damage that was done to the front-left hand part of the aircraft where the pilot was sitting,” Mitchell said.
“We could have had a far worse situation here.
The six passengers - including the pilot - were treated for minor injuries and have since been discharged from hospital.
