Hero’s quick action saves lives in Micronesia plane crash

The Australian hero of an Air Niugini crash in Micronesia has been reluctantly unmasked.

Adam Milburn.

A week after an Air Niugini flight crashed into water short of the runway at Chuuk in Micronesia, the Australian “hero” of the ­calamity has been reluctantly unmasked.

Adam Milburn, 44, lives in Pohnpei with his wife and their two children, and was heading to Australia last Friday to collect ­another daughter, 13, for the school holidays.

As a regular traveller, Mr Milburn knew to expect a heavy landing when stopping over in Chuuk but it quickly became apparent this landing was heavier than usual. Mr Milburn said his initial thought was “damn it they’ve damaged the plane on landing and we won’t be going through to Port Moresby”.

“That was half a second before ‘this isn’t right, we’re not slowing down’,” the former Royal Australian Navy clearance diver said. “Then it was kind of all over the place and everyone made head contact with the seat in front.”

It was not until the plane came to a stop that cabin crew told passengers to brace. “I thought ‘we’re past that point’ and I instinctively stood up,” he said.

After helping nearby passengers don life jackets, Mr Milburn said he was concerned there had been no further announcements.

“There was no ‘stay calm, we’re going to get you out’,” he said.

“So I went down to the over wing exit and jumped out on the wing. There was a fantastic guy there, Rodney, a PNG fisherman, who’d got the liferaft down on to the wing.”

With no crew around to assist, the two men inflated the raft by which time some of the passengers had started coming through the exit door on to the wing.

A flotilla of local fishing boats helped ferry passengers back to shore and on to hospital.

“The bravery and the selflessness of the Chuukese people can’t be questioned. They were doing their absolute best,” he said.

With the 47 people on board believed to be out of the plane, Mr Milburn returned for a final check as US navy divers entered the cabin.

He found the rear of the plane filled with headhigh water and debris, and asked if one of the divers wearing a face mask could take a closer look.

“They decided it wasn’t really safe,” he said. “We didn’t know how much longer the plane was going to be floating and I think it would’ve been easy to get trapped.”

A few hours later in Chuuk hospital when a proper headcount was finally undertaken, it became apparent one passenger was missing.

Late Monday Air Niugini revealed an Indonesian man’s body had been Late LaeMonday recovered from the submerged aircraft.

“That hit me hard. I’d been hoping beyond hope that they were going to turn up,” said Mr Milburn.

Despite his own lifesaving actions, the former Royal Australian Navy clearance diver insisted he was no hero.

“It’s important to acknowledge that everyone helped in some way to get people safely off. Those that weren’t injured did a little more hopefully,” he said.