Well done to the New Zealand & PNG Soldiers
RIP
R W
NZ soldiers help plane crash survivors | Stuff.co.nz
New Zealand soldiers on a secret jungle training mission in Papua New Guinea have played a key role in rescuing survivors from a fatal plane crash on Saturday.
A Papua New Guinean pilot, her Australian co-pilot and two other PNG nationals died when a Twin Otter owned by third-level airline HeviLift crashed into the mountainside on Mount Lawes at Laloki as it was flying toward the capital, Port Moresby.
Five PNG nationals survived.
The PNG Post-Courier reported today that the critically injured were helped by New Zealand soldiers.
They had been conducting a joint training exercise with the PNG Defence Forces at Goldie River Army Training Barracks, just below the mountain.
"Because of the secret nature of the joint PNG-New Zealand defence forces training exercise on Saturday, the media was told not to get photographs of the soldiers bringing out the injured from the wreckage," the Post-Courier reported.
A soldier said they were conducting their training in bush under the mountain when they heard a loud bang at around 9.30am.
"The top of the mountain was covered in mist and we could not see anything, so we called Jackson Airport and they told us that there was a (plane) crash," a soldier said.
"We rushed to the site with our medics, both from PNG and New Zealand Army, and we were able to rescue the six passengers.
"One died soon after.The newspaper said the soldiers would only talk so long as they were not named.
"Our hierarchy confirmed that there was a crash and we were directed to provide assistance and rescue those on board the ill-fated plane," one soldier said.
Because of the thick fog, vegetation and the rugged terrain on the mountain top the helicopter could not land near the crash site so they had to use their four-wheel drive vehicles and then make it on foot to the crash site, which is about a three-hour walk for an ordinary person.
For the soldiers, it was less than an hour.The New Zealand Defence Force has made no comment on the incident.
New Zealand forces frequently exercise in PNG and their presence is usually widely publicised.