Today's Post Courier
Helicopter wreckage sighted near mine
A HELI Niugini Limited helicopter has crashed in the remote highlands of Central Province. Alarms were raised on Friday at midday when it did not arrive at its destination on schedule. On board were six people and a dead man. The occupants were an expatriate pilot, three mine employees, a man from Karame village, and a corpse of a Karame elder who was a patient at the mine’s medical centre. The helicopter company said the aircraft crashed on the side of a steep mountain north of the Tolukuma Gold Mine in Goilala District. Heli Niugini’s general manager Grant Smith, in New Zealand, is aware of the crash. An officer at the Madang office said the Bell 206 long ranger was located with a global positioning system.
But there has not been any information on the occupants of the helicopter. It is understood the helicopter was on its first leg of the trip when it crashed. Patrick Bindon, director for corporate communications for Australian-based Emperor Mines, the mother company of Tolukuma Gold Mine Ltd, said from Brisbane yesterday a faint emergency location transponder was detected from what they believed was the helicopter. It was the first of any signals from the aircraft since it was reported missing at midday Friday after it did not return to the site by 11.30am as expected from a village in the area.
Mr Bindon said a full aerial and foot search started yesterday morning. Four helicopters from several companies including Heli Niugini were used. But the aerial search was called off early yesterday afternoon due the rugged terrain and heavy weather making visibility very poor. The foot patrol continued, and Heli Niugini’s Madang office said the search party was dropped off about half a mile from the location of the wreckage. And it would take some time for the team to actually close in on the helicopter.