What the 'heartbreaking' crashed
[My Australasia]
Mission will go on after 'heartbreaking' chopper crash
THE grief-stricken colleagues of nine Australians killed when their helicopter crashed in an open field in earthquake-ravaged Indonesia vowed to continue their aid mission yesterday as a Defence team rushed to determine the cause of the nation's worst naval flying accident.
As speculation centred on catastrophic mechanical failure, John Howard and defence force chief General Peter Cosgrove vowed yesterday that HMAS Kanimbla's relief mission to Nias would continue, despite the tragedy that killed six navy and three RAAF personnel.
The Prime Minister described the loss as "heartbreaking", saying the sympathy of all Australians went out to the families of the nine dead and two injured.
He said the Kanimbla's "mission of mercy" to Indonesia would go on.
"I know that is what the men and women on the Kanimbla would want to occur and I know that is what the Australian people would want to occur, and I believe it is what those who have lost their lives would want to be the case," Mr Howard said.
"They died in the service of this country, they died doing good things in the name of this country and they died living out the essential decency and compassion and mateship of the Australian people, so strongly displayed towards the people of Indonesia."
The accident on Nias was the worst loss of life for the defence force since the night collision of two Black Hawk helicopters in 1996 that killed 18 soldiers, most of them from the elite Special Air Service regiment. The bodies of the nine will be flown to the town of Sibolga on the west coast of Sumatra today and will be received by a full Indonesian military honour guard before returning home.
The 31-year-old Sea King helicopter - the navy's oldest aircraft - came down in a football field near the village of Aman Draya on the southern part of Nias island.
Local villagers said the Sea King had circled the village twice and hovered over a nearby football field at a height of about 30m before the engine apparently failed. It then plunged headlong into the ground and burst into flames minutes later, not long after two survivors had been dragged from the wreckage.
Late yesterday, the Defence Department announced the names of the nine killed in Saturday's disaster. Six were from the Royal Australian Navy: Lieutenant Mathew Davey, a doctor from the ACT; Lieutenant Matthew Goodall, a helicopter observer from NSW; Lieutenant Paul Kimlin, a pilot from the ACT; Lieutenant Jonathan King, a pilot from Queensland; Petty Officer Stephen Slattery, a medic from NSW; and Leading Seaman Scott Bennett, from NSW. Three Royal Australian Air Force personnel were killed: Squadron Leader Paul McCarthy, a senior medical officer from Western Australia; Flight Lieutenant Lyn Rowbottom, from Queensland; and Sergeant Wendy Jones, also from Queensland.
HMAS Kanimbla's commanding officer, Commander George McGuire, said the two survivors suffered fractures and bruises were recovering well and were in a stable condition in the ship's hospital.
And he promised the mission would continue: "We owe it to their memory to continue with our job."
"They're obviously very upset by it," Commander McGuire said, adding the entire Kanimbla crew had been devastated by the loss of their colleagues.
"They've gone through an emotional rollercoaster."
Defence sources last night confirmed that crewmembers who worked closest with the nine servicemen and women killed had been offered the chance to cut short their mission.
Many crewmembers had indicated they wanted to take up that option and return to Australia for their shipmates' funerals over the next seven days.
Commander McGuire, who travelled to Nias yesterday to help recover the bodies of those who died, denied the Sea King's crew had been suffering from fatigue.
"We have extremely strict regulations that we have to follow and they (the chopper crew) were on what we call crew duty. Outside crew duty times they are not allowed to fly," Commander McGuire said yesterday.
HMAS Kanimbla only recently completed a 10-week mission to assist Aceh's recovery from the devastating Boxing Day tsunami.
The ship was on its way home to Australia via Singapore when it was diverted to Nias after last Monday's huge earthquake, which left hundreds dead and thousands homeless.
The Kanimbla's second Sea King remained strapped to the flight deck yesterday after Commander McGuire ordered a suspension of airborne aid missions.
Australian Defence Force chief General Peter Cosgrove would not speculate yesterday on the cause of the crash, which occurred in clear weather at about 4.30pm local time on Saturday.
He said a full series of investigations would be conducted, including a coronial inquiry.
Indonesia's defence chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, had been scheduled to accompany Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Australia yesterday but travelled to Nias to oversee Indonesia's response to the crash.
He was accompanied by Brigadier Ken Brownrigg, head of the defence staff at the Australian embassy in Jakarta, and senior Indonesian military officers.
"I think they (the Indonesians) are as devastated by the accident as we all are," he said.
Immediately after he was informed of the crash Dr Yudhoyono called an emergency meeting of ministers and armed forces chiefs at the state palace in Jakarta.
"I have spoken with Prime Minister Howard and of course I have expressed my deep condolences to those at home in Australia who lost their loved ones," he told The Australian yesterday.
"I did say to Prime Minister Howard that the Indonesian Government and the Indonesian military will do what we can do to manage the situation and handle the evacuation process of the victims to Australia."
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Mission will go on after 'heartbreaking' chopper crash
THE grief-stricken colleagues of nine Australians killed when their helicopter crashed in an open field in earthquake-ravaged Indonesia vowed to continue their aid mission yesterday as a Defence team rushed to determine the cause of the nation's worst naval flying accident.
As speculation centred on catastrophic mechanical failure, John Howard and defence force chief General Peter Cosgrove vowed yesterday that HMAS Kanimbla's relief mission to Nias would continue, despite the tragedy that killed six navy and three RAAF personnel.
The Prime Minister described the loss as "heartbreaking", saying the sympathy of all Australians went out to the families of the nine dead and two injured.
He said the Kanimbla's "mission of mercy" to Indonesia would go on.
"I know that is what the men and women on the Kanimbla would want to occur and I know that is what the Australian people would want to occur, and I believe it is what those who have lost their lives would want to be the case," Mr Howard said.
"They died in the service of this country, they died doing good things in the name of this country and they died living out the essential decency and compassion and mateship of the Australian people, so strongly displayed towards the people of Indonesia."
The accident on Nias was the worst loss of life for the defence force since the night collision of two Black Hawk helicopters in 1996 that killed 18 soldiers, most of them from the elite Special Air Service regiment. The bodies of the nine will be flown to the town of Sibolga on the west coast of Sumatra today and will be received by a full Indonesian military honour guard before returning home.
The 31-year-old Sea King helicopter - the navy's oldest aircraft - came down in a football field near the village of Aman Draya on the southern part of Nias island.
Local villagers said the Sea King had circled the village twice and hovered over a nearby football field at a height of about 30m before the engine apparently failed. It then plunged headlong into the ground and burst into flames minutes later, not long after two survivors had been dragged from the wreckage.
Late yesterday, the Defence Department announced the names of the nine killed in Saturday's disaster. Six were from the Royal Australian Navy: Lieutenant Mathew Davey, a doctor from the ACT; Lieutenant Matthew Goodall, a helicopter observer from NSW; Lieutenant Paul Kimlin, a pilot from the ACT; Lieutenant Jonathan King, a pilot from Queensland; Petty Officer Stephen Slattery, a medic from NSW; and Leading Seaman Scott Bennett, from NSW. Three Royal Australian Air Force personnel were killed: Squadron Leader Paul McCarthy, a senior medical officer from Western Australia; Flight Lieutenant Lyn Rowbottom, from Queensland; and Sergeant Wendy Jones, also from Queensland.
HMAS Kanimbla's commanding officer, Commander George McGuire, said the two survivors suffered fractures and bruises were recovering well and were in a stable condition in the ship's hospital.
And he promised the mission would continue: "We owe it to their memory to continue with our job."
"They're obviously very upset by it," Commander McGuire said, adding the entire Kanimbla crew had been devastated by the loss of their colleagues.
"They've gone through an emotional rollercoaster."
Defence sources last night confirmed that crewmembers who worked closest with the nine servicemen and women killed had been offered the chance to cut short their mission.
Many crewmembers had indicated they wanted to take up that option and return to Australia for their shipmates' funerals over the next seven days.
Commander McGuire, who travelled to Nias yesterday to help recover the bodies of those who died, denied the Sea King's crew had been suffering from fatigue.
"We have extremely strict regulations that we have to follow and they (the chopper crew) were on what we call crew duty. Outside crew duty times they are not allowed to fly," Commander McGuire said yesterday.
HMAS Kanimbla only recently completed a 10-week mission to assist Aceh's recovery from the devastating Boxing Day tsunami.
The ship was on its way home to Australia via Singapore when it was diverted to Nias after last Monday's huge earthquake, which left hundreds dead and thousands homeless.
The Kanimbla's second Sea King remained strapped to the flight deck yesterday after Commander McGuire ordered a suspension of airborne aid missions.
Australian Defence Force chief General Peter Cosgrove would not speculate yesterday on the cause of the crash, which occurred in clear weather at about 4.30pm local time on Saturday.
He said a full series of investigations would be conducted, including a coronial inquiry.
Indonesia's defence chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, had been scheduled to accompany Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Australia yesterday but travelled to Nias to oversee Indonesia's response to the crash.
He was accompanied by Brigadier Ken Brownrigg, head of the defence staff at the Australian embassy in Jakarta, and senior Indonesian military officers.
"I think they (the Indonesians) are as devastated by the accident as we all are," he said.
Immediately after he was informed of the crash Dr Yudhoyono called an emergency meeting of ministers and armed forces chiefs at the state palace in Jakarta.
"I have spoken with Prime Minister Howard and of course I have expressed my deep condolences to those at home in Australia who lost their loved ones," he told The Australian yesterday.
"I did say to Prime Minister Howard that the Indonesian Government and the Indonesian military will do what we can do to manage the situation and handle the evacuation process of the victims to Australia."
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