Helicopter crash victim, 9, wakes from coma
A young boy who was gravely injured in the Sea World helicopter tragedy has seen his condition improve, while another fights for life.
A young boy who was left fighting for life after the Sea World helicopter tragedy has seen his condition improve and is reportedly out of a coma.
Nine-year-old Leon de Silva was placed on life support after the helicopter that he and his mother Winnie were on collided with another chopper on the Gold Coast. They were among the sole survivors of the crash.
He has since woken up, with a Queensland Health spokesperson confirming he has moved into a stable condition.
And a nurse told the Herald Sun that little Leon even gave a thumbs up after waking from his coma.
The welcome news comes as the final picture of another mother and son posing while holding their ticket for a doomed helicopter flight has emerged.
Vanessa Tadros, 36, and her 10-year-old son Nicholas had beaming smiles in the picture which was taken as they waited to board their flight over the Gold Coast skyline on Monday afternoon.
But just seconds into the flight, their helicopter collided with another chopper.
Ms Tadros was among four people who died in the crash.
Ten-year-old Nicholas is still fighting for life in hospital.
The image of the pair is the final happy memory heartbroken husband and father Simon Tadros has of them.
He watched on in horror from the ground as the collision unfolded.
In a post to social media on Tuesday night, he thanked the Australian community for their support and asked for their prayers.
“I do ask that if everyone can please say a prayer for Nicky, so he can wake up and make a good recovery,” he wrote on Facebook.
“He is in an induced coma on a life support machine to help him breathe.
“He is in a very serious and critical state. I‘m asking for all your prayers to bring my little man back to me.”
His post comes as harrowing footage emerged from inside the cockpit of the other helicopter involved in the Sea World crash, showing the brutal impact of the crash.
In the video a passenger can be seen trying to alert the pilot moments before the horrifying collision.
A passenger on the helicopter that landed without casualties took the chilling video during the joy flight.
The hand of one of the passengers can be seen tapping the pilot’s chair, with the video paused just before impact.
Pilot Ash Jenkinson, British newlyweds Ron and Dianne Hughes and Sydney mum Vanessa Tadros lost their lives after the two helicopters collided on the Gold Coast on Monday afternoon.
Winnie de Silva and son Leon were among the three sole survivors of the helicopter that plummeted the ground after the collision.
The Geelong West mum has woken up in Gold Coast University Hospital overnight and described the terrifying moments after the crash as pilot Ash Jenkinson desperately tried to save their lives.
“I heard a huge bang and the only thing I could feel was the shaking of the helicopter,” she told the Herald Sun.
“I could see the pilot pressing all these buttons, stressed out – he didn’t know what to do.
Leon is in a stable condition at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.
It comes as one of the first people on the scene after the horrific Sea World helicopter crash has spoken out about the efforts to save the victims.
Ron Drevlak and his wife were walking their dog on the Gold Coast when the horror happened just above their heads on Monday.
“The noise and the thud of it hitting the ground, I cannot get it out of my head,” Mr Drevlak told 7 News.
He and others immediately rushed to help those trapped inside the wreckage of the helicopter and was met with a horrific scene.
Mr Drevlak first saw Ron Hughes, who had been visiting the Gold Coast with his new wife Diane when they decided to board the helicopter.
“The first person I saw was Ron, we cut the seat belt we pulled him out and pulled him away but he was very pale,” he recounted.
The couple were among the four killed in the crash.
His attention then turned to two other victims from the same helicopter, Winnie and Leon de Silva.
“That‘s when I heard Winnie, she was just screaming,” Mr Drevlak said.
“I said, ‘look don’t worry, help is on the way, it’s only water we’re just trying to dilute the fuel’.”
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