By Special reporters
First published in The Sun-Herald on June 12, 1960
Schoolbooks and soggy caps floating in sea
8 bodies recovered
MACKAY (QId.) Saturday (From Special Reporters). — The bodies of 21 people — including eight schoolchildren — are still trapped in the wreckage of the T.A.A. aircraft which crashed into the sea here last night.
Civil Aviation Department employee Bill Moreland inspects twisted metal and other salvaged debris in the Customs shed.Credit: Staff photographer
Eight bodies and shattered pieces of the Fokker Friendship aircraft were found floating four miles east of Mackay. Two bodies were still strapped to seats.
Tomorrow skindivers will try to find the fuselage and remaining bodies. Aviation officials fear that some of them may be taken by sharks.
The death-roll of 29 equalled the worst Australian crash on record—that of the Skymaster Amana near Perth in 1950.
Seven of the eight bodies recovered have been identified. They include those of the United States Consul in Queensland, Mr John F. O’Grady, and the Director-General of the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau. Mr A. E. Cole. One was of a boy —one of the pupiIs of Rockhampton Grammar school killed on his way home for the holiday weekend.
Rescuers had difficulty identifying the badly mutilated bodies. One body had been decapitated. Another was severely mauled by the sharks.
A policeman taking part in the search said that launches were drawn to the area where the body was found by the sharks thrashing the water. The first two bodies recovered, both men, were still strapped in twin seats.
Early today two inquiries were opened into the crash. Both the Department of Civil Aviation and T.A.A. flew investigators to the scene.
A crowd of 3,000 people, including weeping relatives, waited on the Mackay tourist pier for the return of launches searching the sea.
A total of 15 boats, including tourist launches and a lugger, zig-zagged across the crash area all day for wreckage from the plane. Some of the vessels were tourist craft returning with holiday-makers from the resort of Brampton Island. The launches broke off their three-hour tour return cruise to search for bodies or floating wreckage.
The wreckage showed in awesome detail the terrific force with which the aircraft hit the water. It littered the floor of a Civil Aviation Department’s office here: pieces of twisted metal, aircraft seats, a schoolboy’s jacket and cap, underclothing and the top of a flying boot.
The biggest piece of metal recovered from the shattered airliner was a twisted, battered metal section measuring four feet by two feet.
Council workers searching the coast for the crashed plane on June 13th.Credit: Stuart MacGladrie
Late today police brought in two red, blue and grey airline seats, which they found washed up on the ocean beach of Flat Top Island. The seats were torn, buckled and sodden. Among other debris was a water-damaged airline magazine folder and a tennis ball on a 3ft long piece of rubber.
One policeman, who was visibly shaken, said: “It must have belonged to one of the kids, who was practising his tennis game.”
One tourist launch, the Roylen Vianne, discovered three floating bodies. Another found one.
Mt Tom McLean, a Mackay tourist launch proprietor, said tonight:
“We were on our way back from Lindeman Island, with 20 passengers aboard and a crew of nine, when we were called in to assist in the search. A huge area of the sea, about two miles across, was covered with oil slick and debris from the crashed aircraft. The debris included packing, freight, foam rubber cushions and many other things.
“We cruised around the area without finding any bodies and then went into Mackay, unloaded our passengers, and went back, to sea and searched all day. One of our other vessels, Roylen Vianne, found three bodies floating in the sea and another of our launches, Roylen, found one.”
The wreckage is identified at a shed at Mackay Harbour on June 13th.Credit: Stuart MacGladrie
Soggy books
The 54-foot trochus lugger, Sari Rizah, with a crew of 12 picked up more than 50 pieces of wreckage.
“Every bit of wreckage was smashed to smithereens,” the lugger’s owner, Mr Doug Cummings, said last night. “The plane must have hit with a terrific whack which shattered her. We found the shoes of victims still laced but split open down the soles. We picked up a lot of soggy school books floating on the surface. Launches ceased their daylong search at 6.30 p.m. They will leave again at 4 a.m. tomorrow.”
Mr Sam Thorning, a piermaster at Mackay, told “The Sun-Herald”:
“ There were some very harrowing scenes here. As the launches came back, a hearse with coffins was waiting at a separate part of the wharfside and the bodies were transferred to it and taken to our district hospital for identification.
“We allowed cars to drive on to the wharf up to a certain point, and the relatives of the crash victims were allowed to come through separately to the top part of the wharf.
The recovery operation carried out by the HMAS WarregoCredit: Stuart MacGladrie
“Many pieces of wreckage were brought in here. About six or eight utility truck-loads of wreckage from the plane and some of its luggage and freight have been loaded on the wharf.”
The Navy sloop H.M.A.S. Warrego, with eight divers aboard, is due at Mackay during the night to join the search. Another navy ship !s standing by in Sydney ready to leave immediately if required.
The first plane over the area today was a T.A.A. aircraft—also a Fokker Friendship. It flew over the coastline at 6.15 a.m.
T.A.A.’s Queensland assistant manager, Mr E. Soulsby, who was on board, said: “The first rays of the sun were just hitting the water and we could see pieces of wreckage scattered over a square mile of sea. There must have been a dozen small boats dotted around the area.”
In Mackay, an emergency division under the control of District Police Chief Inspector V. J. Quinn commandeered every available seagoing craft and light plane.
The hopes of the rescue teams were dashed early this morning when the Mackay boat Aqua Maid, with two policemen in the crew, found pieces of wreckage scattered over the sea just south of Round Top Island, about four miles east of Mackay.
They found mailbags and toilet paper bearing the mark of T.A.A. floating in the water.
All rescue vessels were then swung into this area where the offshore islands of Flat Top and Round Top lie about a mile and a half apart.
Police said tonight that Naval craft with radar and depth-sounding equipment should find the body of the submerged aircraft.
A policeman said: “Most of the ocean floor in the search area is white sand. Provided the wind does not ripple the surface tomorrow the shining aircraft body should show against the sand like a mirror. Immediately the main wreckage is sighted Navy divers will go down for an underwater search. If it is possible they will swim right into the body to find out if the wreckage can be raised in one piece.”