Chilling message before chopper crash
SURVIVORS of the horror Sea World Helicopters crash have opened up about the tragedy which killed four passengers.
Elmarie and Riaan Steenberg were holidaying on the Gold Coast from New Zealand with friends Edward and Marle Swart when the chopper they were travelling in collided with another on January 2.
The pilot of the other helicopter Ash Jenkinson, British tourists Ron and Diane Hughes and Sydney woman Vanessa Tadros were killed in the tragedy.
Mrs Tadros’s son Nicholas, 10, was critically injured while Geelong woman Winnie de Silva and her son Leon, nine, suffered serious injuries.
The couples spoke for the first time about the tragedy in a 60 Minutes segment on Sunday night, revealing they are still picking glass out of their bodies weeks after the disaster.
Ms Steenberg also shared how she knew they were in “serious trouble” when she saw the other helicopter underneath her.
“We thought it’s just a fiveminute flight, that’ll be fun,” Mrs Swart said.
Her husband added: “What can go wrong?”
As they were taking in the views a chilling message came over the helicopter radio.
“On your left. On your left,” the voice on the radio said. “I saw the helicopter underneath me, and I knew we were in serious trouble and I actually said: ‘Please, God, help us’.
“And then I heard the explosion,” Ms Steenberg said.
The couples were showered with glass and debris after the rotor blades of the ascending Eurocopter EC130s smashed through the cockpit.
Ms Steenberg said in the moment she believed they were about to die.
The couples’ pilot Michael James was at the controls of the other vehicle and managed to land it safely on the sandbank.
They were taken to hospital and treated for their injuries. They have since returned home to Auckland.
Ms Steenberg and Ms Swart said they are still finding debris buried in their skin.
“I just want it out of my body because it reminds (me) of the day,” Ms Steenberg said.
Ms Swart said the hardest part of the ordeal is knowing others died.
She said she thinks about the victims of the crash every day.
“Why did we survive? We’re just ordinary, boring people. Why us, you know? We’re nothing special.”
An investigation into the crash is ongoing by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau but a final verdict isn’t expected until 2024.