A Victorian boy has woken up from a coma following a fatal mid-air helicopter collision on the Gold Coast where four people died and 13 others were injured.
Nine-year-old Geelong boy Leon de Silva, suffered brain trauma following a fatal helicopter crash on Jan. 2, but woke up in Brisbane Children’s Hospital on the morning of Jan. 5.
His mother Winnie, 33, is also awake and in intensive care with two broken legs, a damaged left knee, broken right shoulder, and broken collarbone.
Silva is one of two boys who survived the collision, with the other survivor, 10-year-old Sydney boy Nicholas Tadros, in an induced coma after undergoing multiple operations for “catastrophic” injuries he sustained from the accident.
Taro’s stepfather, Simon Madras, has asked people to pray for his son.
“He is in a very serious and critical state. I’m asking for all your prayers to bring my little man back to me,” Madras wrote on social media on Jan. 3.
Madra’s wife and Tadro’s mother, 36-year-old Vanessa, died at the scene along with British newlyweds Ron and Diane Hughes, 65 and 57, and 40-year-old pilot Ashley Jenkinson.
Queensland Ambulance Service described the accident as a “major incident.”
Sea World Helicopters owner and director John Orr-Campbell has paid tribute to the victims saying that the incident has impacted many people.
“The tragic helicopter accident on the Southport Broadwater on Jan. 2, 2023 has impacted many people, and we pay tribute to those that lost their lives,” he said in a statement on Jan. 5 afternoon.
“We also acknowledge the suffering of those that were injured.
“We have and continue to reach out directly to offer our deepest condolences, support and counselling to the families and passengers of both aircraft.”
Orr-Campbell also described pilot Ashley Jenkinson as “a fine man and a standout pilot with 6,210 hours of flying to his name.”
“We have lost a first-class pilot, a first-class man and a wonderful father, partner and friend,” Orr-Campbell said.
Orr-Campbell also acknowledged second pilot Michael James who was able to land his chopper safely after the incident, sparing the lives of all on board.
“I would also like to commend the other pilot, Michael James, who heroically got the second aircraft to the ground safely. We wish him well in his recovery,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Queensland Health spokesperson said three people from the helicopter piloted by James had all been discharged from hospital on Jan. 5.
“We want to ease each families burden however possible at such a heavy time in their lives for whatever reason they need funds for,” Gregg said.
“This will enable everyone to be able to concentrate on picking up the pieces of their hearts and moving forward without some financial burden.”
De Silva said his wife Winnie wanted to send her personal condolences to the families of other victims in the crash.
Transport Safety Bureau Investigating Crash
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has commenced an investigation into the mid-air collision between the two helicopters that occurred in the vicinity the Seaworld Helipad at Main Beach in Queensland at about 2:00 p.m. local time on Jan. 2.Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said the ascending helicopter’s main rotor blades hit the cockpit of the descending helicopter.
“Now, exactly whether that was the very first point of impact we’re yet to determine,” Mitchell told reporters on Jan. 3.
“But that in itself has led to the main rotor and the gearbox separating from the main helicopter, which then had no lift and has fallen heavily to the ground.”
Neil De Silva, De Silva’s husband and Leon’s stepfather, watched the events unfold.
“Winnie and Leon’s helicopter took off, it only went about 200 metres in the air,” he told the Herald Sun.
“I could see the other helicopter that was due to land … it looked like they were going to crash into one another.” “As it got close, I was thinking ‘this is crazy, this looks really bad’ and I just went numb.”
The second helicopter, piloted by 52-year-old Michael James, was in the air for less than 20 minutes before the crash. James managed to land on the sandbar, saving the lives of his five passengers, four of whom suffered glass shrapnel injuries.
Video shot by one of the passengers in that aircraft appears to show another passenger trying to warn the pilot that the other helicopter was fast approaching by tapping him on the shoulder.
The passenger then squeezes the edge of the pilot’s seat to brace as the cockpit is sprayed with broken glass after one of the other helicopter’s rotor blades strikes the windshield.
