2 Britons killed in helicopter horror
Four die as aircraft collide and plummet on to sandbank near Australian family theme park
TWO Britons were among four people killed as two helicopters crashed in mid- air near a family theme park yesterday.
Tourists watched in horror as the aircraft collided near Sea World on Queensland’s Gold Coast as thousands of families enjoyed the peak of Australia’s summer holidays.
Witnesses said the helicopters collided as one was coming in to land just as the other had taken off.
All the dead and three critically injured passengers were in the helicopter which had just taken off – it crashed upside down on a sandbank close to the shore. The second aircraft managed to land on the same sandbank and those on board rushed to the other helicopter to try to help the injured.
duty police officer Gary Worrell said: ‘Members of the public and the police tried to remove the people, commenced first aid and tried to get those people to safety.’
One of those killed was last night named as Sea World Helicopters chief pilot Ash Jenkinson, 40. A woman and two young boys, who were passengers in Mr Jenkinson’s helicopter, were taken to hospital in a serious condition.
Last night, the Foreign Office confirmed that two of the dead were British nationals.
One tourist at Sea World told 7 News that he’d seen one of the aircraft ‘in a tailspin with the
cockpit windows falling away after impact’. Another witness, Amii Mcdermott said ‘there was debris everywhere’. She added: ‘The tail fell off one of them and the helicopter nose-dived into the ground at full speed.’
As air transport safety officials began examining the scene of the two downed helicopters on the sandbank a few hundred yards from Sea World, Inspector Worrell said ‘it would appear that one helicopter has been taking off and the other has been landing’.
A video shot from the helipad shows a man and his son watching one of the aircraft taking off
and heading into the path of the other – with the boy asking: ‘Is he going to crash?’
Witness Emma Burch said the helicopters ‘clipped each other’. She described a ‘swooshing’ noise before Mr Jenkinson’s aircraft ‘broke apart’, adding: ‘It’s just awful. Everyone is in shock.’
Another witness reported hearing a bang and then smoke pouring from one of the helicopters: ‘It was smoking and wobbling to the ground. One person was asking whether it was part of the Sea World show.’
The helicopters are used for five-minute joy flights close to the world-famous Sea World
theme park south of Brisbane. Other tourists expressed relief that the crippled aircraft had come down on to the sandbank and not into the theme park which was crowded with tourists. Gold Coast resident Tor Kumpel was swimming near the sandbank with his wife when they witnessed the collision. ‘It was horrific to see,’ he said.
‘The pilot who was in the one that landed – they deserve a medal. It took a bit to steady, but they did it.’
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said the country was shocked by the news of the ‘terrible and tragic incident’.