Survivor’s husband tells: ‘Her life flashed before her ... she closed her eyes and feared for their lives’

A MOTHER aboard the helicopter which had its propeller sheared off in Monday’s crash thought she and her young son were certain to die as the aircraft plummeted to the sand.

Winnie de Silva, 33, and son Leon, 9, were among three survivors of the chopper who were seriously injured.

Mrs de Silva’s husband Neil told The Daily Telegraph the trio were on a “budget holiday” in Queensland when the pair decided to go on the joy flight.

“It was Winnie’s dream to take Leon on a helicopter,” Mr de Silva said.

“I thought I would shout them a 10-minute flight.

“We were on a budget holiday, trying to save money but I wanted them to have that experience.”

Mr de Silva said he was in disbelief when he saw the helicopters crash.

“Winnie and Leon’s helicopter took off, it only went about 200 metres in the air.

“I could see the other helicopter that was due to land … it looked like they were going to crash into one another.

“As it got closer, I was thinking ‘this is crazy, this looks really bad’ and I just went numb”.

Mr de Silva said he waited two hours to find out that his wife and stepson miraculously survived the crash.

“I feared the worst … I was praying,’ he said.

“That’s the sort of thing where you expect people to die but I was trying to be as positive as I could.”

Mrs de Silva was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital where she remains in a critical but stable condition.

She has two broken legs, a damaged left knee, a broken right shoulder and a broken collarbone.

Leon was flown to the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane where he remains in a coma in a critical condition. He has facial and head injuries, a cracked skull and severe trauma to the brain.

“The hospital rang me early this morning to say the left side wasn’t responding how they liked,” Mr de Silva said.

“They asked for my permission to drill a hole into the right side of his skull to attach a device to monitor his brain pressure.

“Winnie is very worried about him, we all are.”

Mr de Silva said his wife told him she thought she would die and that “her life flashed before her eyes.”

“She closed her eyes and feared for their lives.”

Mr de Silva said Leon moved to Melbourne from Kenya about one year ago to be with his mum.

“This was his first helicopter flight,” he said.

“Everything is a new experience for him.”

Although the pair have a long road to recovery, Mr de Silva said they were the lucky ones.

“I feel blessed that Winnie and Leon survived,” he said.

“Four people died — they are blessed to be alive.”

The pilot of the second helicopter, which had five passengers on board, miraculously managed to land on a sand bank in the middle of the Broadwater, with everyone aboard able to walk away.

These include the pilot, a 52-year-old identified as Michael James, and passengers, a 27-year-old Western Australia woman and two families from New Zealand who were travelling together — a 44-year-old man and 43-year-old woman from one family and a 48-yearold man and 45-year-old woman from the other.

Footage showed the passengers being helped back to a wharf after being transported by boat from the sandbank.

One woman was seen to be limping while Mr James was at the rear of the line, also seemingly limping and with a bandaged hand.