From ninemsn:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=13564
Nine Australians die in Navy helicopter
23:44 AEDT Sat Apr 2 2005
Tragedy has struck Australia's relief effort on Nias, with a Navy
helicopter crashing, killing nine personnel on board.
The chopper crashed Saturday afternoon while on approach to
Amandraya village on the remote west coast of Nias.
The Sea King helicopter had been ferrying an emergency medical team
from the Kanimbla to the village as part of relief efforts to
outlying areas of Nias following a devastating earthquake on
Monday.
The helicopter crashed on approach to land, Kanimbla captain
Commander George McGuire told journalists who had been on board the
Kanimbla for a media tour.
He said two on board the helicopter survived and were airlifted to
the Kanimbla for emergency surgery by the ship's second helicopter,
which landed with a medical team after seeing smoke from the crash
site.
"They are in a serious condition with leg fractures and other
injuries," Cmdr McGuire said.
"We believe the rest of the personnel died."
On board the chopper were five naval personnel as well as three
from the Air Force and one member of the Army.
Seven of the dead were male and two were female.
The Kanimbla immediately scrambled its second helicopter to inspect
the crash zone for a second time after Indonesian military
authorities in the area suggested the other nine passengers on
board may have survived.
But an hour later the 300 ship's crew members were informed that
all nine had been killed, their bodies found in the wreckage by a
team of paramedics and rescue personnel.
Cmdr McGuire immediately dispatched the Kanimbla to the rescue site
and it was steaming around the southern tip of Nias to take up
station near a river leading to the village where the chopper
crashed.
"That location is a very remote location," he said, adding that the
trip would take about six hours to steam to the site where the
chopper, callsign "Shark 02", went down.
Shattered staff on the Kanimbla cried and bowed their heads in
shock in the ship's mess room when Cmdr McGuire broke the news that
no other survivors had been found.
In the ship's cavernous hold, which had been converted into an
emergency hospital ward, about 20 military doctors were caring for
the two wounded crew members, conducting on-the-spot X-rays in
preparation for surgery.
The Navy confirmed that all nine personnel killed in the crash were
Australians.
Both pilots were killed and the two survivors were both male.
One had fractures and the other was believed to be in a very
critical condition.
The Navy confirmed that those killed were the five naval personnel,
three from the Air Force and one Army member.
Journalists on board the Kanimbla were barred from reporting news
of the crash until all family members had been informed and the
second helicopter on board Kanimbla had confirmed no more
survivors.
The Kanimbla had only just reached the area on Saturday morning
after steaming from Singapore, where crew had been enjoying shore
leave after a three-month posting to Aceh.
The rescue mission was the second of the day and both helicopters
earlier had returned from Peruk Dalam, on the south of the island,
where they had airlifted four Indonesians to the ship for emergency
care.
The Kanimbla has a fully equipped operating theatre with two
doctors and two anaesthetists who had been operating through the
afternoon and night and were fighting to save the life of their
critically injured crewmate.
