Hero boaties first on scene of Sea World chopper crash describe efforts to rescue passengers

Hero boaties who were first on the scene after Monday’s deadly Sea World helicopter crash have described what they saw and their efforts to rescue the passengers still alive while working around aviation fuel, raining debris and a scene covered in glass.

• Footage inside chopper seconds before collision

Hero boaties who were first on the scene of the Sea World helicopter crash are having trauma counselling as they grapple to come to terms with the horrific scenes.

Two of the good Samaritans, Pat McCarthy and Dave Costa - who were in separate boats just metres from where the choppers collided mid-air before plunging into a sandbank in the Gold Coast’s Southport Broadwater - have given the Sunday Mail harrowing accounts of how they and their families rushed to save the dying and critically injured victims of the disaster.

It comes as a lawyer who acted for victims of the 2016 Dreamworld disaster said the Sea World helicopter crash victims would likely be eligible for “multimillion-dollar” compensation payouts.

Dave Costa and Pat McCarthy Helicopter crash heroes

Mr McCarthy fought back tears as he told how he and Mr Costa were doused in aviation fuel as they worked frantically to try to free badly injured Winnie de Silva from the wreckage telling her: “Your boy is alive - he needs you. Stay with us.”

They feared the chopper could explode in flames at any moment but “we just wanted to get them out”, he said.

Mr McCarthy’s partner Erica Stagg, a former flight attendant, performed CPR on one of the victims, while his daughters, Ainsley, 21, and Ava, 17, helped comfort the survivors.

“It’s so confronting and so overwhelming we just didn’t know where to start,” Mr McCarthy said.

“It was surreal, like a scene from a movie - but the worst possible scene you can imagine.”

Mr McCarthy and Mr Costa, who both live on the Coast but did not know each other, were spending an idyllic New Year long weekend Monday boating on the Broadwater when all hell broke loose.

“We saw the two choppers and Ava, who’s a pilot, said ‘wow, they’re close together’,” Mr McCarthy said.

The chaotic scene as bystanders and emergency services respond to the Sea World helicopter crash. Picture: Glenn Hampson

“I just looked down for a second to check the boat instruments and heard a crack and then a bang. I think the crack was the rotor going through the (chopper) bubble.

“I just gunned the boat on full throttle and beached it on the sandbank.

“I screamed at the girls to stay on the boat and just ran across the sand. The other chopper hadn’t even landed yet.”

Mr McCarthy said the crashed chopper was upside down in the sand.

“All the doors were blown out and everybody was still strapped inside,” he said.

“We were calling out ‘is anybody OK, is anybody OK’. I could see debris raining down and I thought, ‘holy hell, there’s going to be casualties on the ground’.

Mr McCarthy said his partner ran to get a bucket from the boat to douse aviation fuel as well as towels to protect Mrs de Silva who was badly trapped, before trying in vain to revive British tourist Ron Hughes, who died along with wife Diane, Sydney woman Vanessa Tadros and pilot Ash Jenkinson.

Rescuers reassured Winnie De Silva that her boy Leon was alive as they tried to free her from the wreckage. Picture: GoFundMe page

Mr Costa said he saw the other chopper pilot, Michael James and one of his passengers, walking across the sand in obvious shock and “covered in shrapnel”.

He pulled Mr and Mrs Hughes, Mrs Tadros and her son Nicholas, 10, from the wreckage while Mr McCarthy helped retrieve Mrs de Silva’s son Leon, 9.

Mrs de Silva, her son Leon, 9, and Mrs Tadros’s son Nicholas, 10, were all badly injured and trapped.

Mr Costa’s 17-year-old son Jordan sat with a critically injured Nicholas as his father and Mr McCarthy worked frantically to try and free Mrs de Silva.

“The shattered perspex of the cockpit door perilously close to her neck, so we couldn’t move her,” Mr McCarthy said.

“We put a towel around her neck and were reefing and shattering the perspex out of the crumpled door frame so we could get it away from her head.

“We were taking turns holding her hand.“We said, ‘hey Winnie, show us that beautiful smile again. Your son is alive, your son is alive, stay with us. He’s alive, you’ve got to be there’.”

The pair also used crash debris and bare hands to dig under the helicopter in an effort to free Mrs de Silva and drain aviation fuel that was pouring over her and them.

British couple Diane and Ron Hughes were killed in the crash. Picture: Supplied.

They held her hand and comforted her and doused her with buckets of water to wash away the fuel, before she was finally freed by firemen.

“We were with Winnie for what seemed like an eternity,” Mr McCarthy said.

“It was a good 10 to 15 minutes before anyone official arrived,” he said.

“We were like ‘where the f--k is everybody?’. We felt so alone.”

Mr McCarthy said he and Mr Costa were praying for Nicholas’s survival and hoped to reunite with Mrs de Silva and Leon when they are better.

Both men had trauma counselling this week and were interviewed by police investigators.

Shine Lawyers national litigation specialist Roger Singh, who spearheaded multimillion-dollar legal claims for victims of the Dreamworld Thunder River Rapids ride disaster, said the Sea World chopper crash was another “terrible tragedy” which would leave lifelong devastation for those involved and their families.

Pilot Ash Jenkinson.

Vanessa Tadros. Picture: Supplied

He said while the cause of the crash still had to be determined, it was likely the victims and their families would be in line for hefty compensation payouts.

“That’s likely to exceed multi-millions of dollars,” he said.

“Sadly, it won’t bring back lives or health. But ultimately, those people who have lost loved ones or been seriously injured, will have legal recourse for recompense.”