I saw mate’s body hanging in wreck’: Final moments before horror Sea World crash revealed

As never-before-seen footage reveals the final moments for those travelling in the doomed Sea World helicopter, the official first responder has spoken for the first time about the horror crash scene. VIDEO, NEW PICS, FULL INCIDENT LOG

Never-before-seen footage of the five-minute joy flight that turned into one of Queensland’s worst aviation incidents reveals the organised chaos that ensued in the aftermath of the mid-air collision on January 2.

The horror crash unfolded when two helicopters collided near the Sea World theme park.

A large-scale emergency response was tasked to the crash site, a sandbar about 100m from the park.

Pictures show Queensland Fire and Emergency Services personnel holding blood transfusions while other emergency services shield critically injured passengers with sheets, towels and tarps.

New images show the horror scene first responders were confronted with after the Sea World helicopter crash.

Volunteer Marine Rescue vessels and Water Police boats, used as taxis between Sea World and the sandbar, are seen moored near the mangled wrecks of both choppers, with rotor blades strewn over the sand.

Footage shows about 30 responders huddled around critically injured passengers as boats and jetskis circle the sandbar. Other aircraft can be heard overhead.

‘I SAW MATE’S BODY HANGING IN WRECK’

Surf Life Saving Queensland chief pilot Paul Gibson. Picture: SLSQ

A rescue helicopter pilot was confronted with the lifeless body of his mate within minutes of arriving at the Sea World Helicopter crash tragedy as the first official responder.

Paul Gibson has spoken for the first time about the horrific scene he found when he was the first person to arrive at one of the state’s worst aviation disasters on Main Beach on January 2.

His friend and fellow pilot, Ash Jenkinson, was upside down in the mangled wreck.

Sea World Helicopters pilot Ash Jenkinson and partner Kosha Richardson-Johnson.

Mr Gibson, a hero who consoled critically injured passengers, has detailed how the day unfolded in an exclusive interview after The Courier-Mail obtained logs of the frantic second-by-second emergency response.

Surf Life Saving Queensland Westpac chopper “Lifesaver 45” had been on the ground at Carrara when they heard reports of the collision over the radio but rushed to the scene within minutes.

The emergency scene after two Sea World helicopters collided.

Two Sea World helicopters on five-minute joy flights over the Gold Coast Broadwater collided about 2pm on that sunny Monday in a catastrophe which killed four people and injured nine.

Among the dead were Sea World helicopter pilot Ash Jenkinson, British newlyweds Ron and Diane Hughes and Sydney mum Vanessa Tadros.

Ms Tadros’s 10-year-old son Nicholas was critically injured, while Geelong mum Winnie de Silva and her nine-year-old son Leon suffered serious injuries.

Nicholas and Vanessa Tadros just before they boarded the Sea World Helicopter.

Mr Gibson had been on surf patrols that same morning and said ‘g’day mate’ to Sea World Helicopters pilot Michael James, 52, and Mr Jenkinson, 40, just hours before the mid-air collision. Mr James miraculously landed his aircraft on the sandbank and all inside survived.

“I knew Ash as well so that added another level of complexity to it all … but we landed and rendered what we could,” he said.

“Obviously I had been on duty all day, I had spoken to both of the boys – Michael and Ash,” he said.

Asked whether he knew that Ash was on board, Mr Gibson said: “I didn’t know immediately but when we landed and I obviously surveyed both wreckages that I knew one of them was Ash … I saw his body upside down in the helicopter.”

The wreckage after the crash.

Asked about his final radio correspondence with the Sea World pilots, Mr Gibson said: “In the morning – they were doing their flights and we were on a patrol … it was a glorious day … the usual air traffic control … they would give a report and we would give a report … I just said ‘g’day boys’ like you would passing someone in the street or walking into work … a normal day … a beautiful day on the Goldie … a good day for flying.

“When we first landed Michael, the pilot of the aircraft which landed upright … he was sort of wandering around a bit, I just grabbed him, introduced myself and asked his name … and then I sat him down at the foot of our helicopter and just gave him a bit of a once over … he had a lot of debris from what I take to be the windscreen of his helicopter sort of embedded in his body … but to my eye he had no life-threatening injuries,” Mr Gibson said.

“I didn’t ask Michael what had happened … he didn’t say anything … he was probably still in shock … I just got him out of the sun and sat him in the shade of the helicopter.”

An emergency services spokesman said three Volunteer Marine Rescue boats and two Water Police facilitated a “constant shuttle” of personnel, equipment and drugs. A Queensland Ambulance significant incident report, obtained by The Courier-Mail, revealed first responders navigated a complicated multi-casualty crisis with a flurry of “confusing” initial information from 27 triple-0 calls.

First reports were “limited and conflicting” QAS documents show, and it appeared “at one stage that there may be two separate incident sites”.

It is understood emergency services were initially told that two helicopters had “collided over the Broadwater” and it was unclear whether the site was accessible amid concerns both choppers were “submerged”. But three teams of paramedics were still deployed within 120 seconds of the first call coming in, with a senior operations supervisor also rushing to the scene to command the situation.

Confronting scenes after the crash.

It took just 10.5 minutes for the ambulances to arrive in quick succession at the theme park.

Call logs revealed in the interim an off-duty Queensland Ambulance personnel including an intern with a jet ski had leapt to action.

Mr Gibson said although the scene was “confronting”, everyone who responded to the crash went into “job mode”.