Erebus Families Still Grieving After NZ’s Worst Disaster

Erebus Families Still Grieving 38 Years on From NZ’s Worst Disaster

Tuesday - 28th November 2017 - will be the 38th anniversary of New Zealand’s worst peacetime disaster - the accident of Air New Zealand McDonnell Douglas DC-10 ZK-NZP, Flight TE901, on the slopes of Antarctica’s Mt. Erebus. With 257 fatalities - 237 passengers and 20 crew - it is still the Southern Hemisphere’s worst aviation accident.

The following Erebus family members have given permission to be contacted and are available for interview to tell something of their experiences:

- David Allan: Erebus families representative (Clive, Hawkes Bay): Ph: 0274 412625 or 06 8700732 and david_allan@xtra.co.nz David is a former businessman who lives on a large rural property in his family for generations. In recent years David and family have commissioned an elegant Erebus sculpture on their property.

- Pat Gilberd: Lives in Tairua (Coromandel). Home number is 07 8648727 and mobile is 0226720024 andbrucepat@xtra.co.nz. Pat lost her father, Rev Peter Tanton (from Auckland). For many years Pat’s husband, Bruce Gilberd, was Anglican Bishop of Auckland.

- Tonci Marinovich: Lives in Parnell (Auckland). Tonci lost his wife, Suzanne, on the Erebus flight. She was one of the flight attendants. At the time Tonci was also a senior flight attendant for the airline. Ph 021 2433132 or 09 3795181 tonci@vodafone.co.nz

Also.

- Captain Allan Boyce, retired Air New Zealand pilot, who lives in Whitford (Auckland). Allan was the ‘stand-by’ co-pilot for the ill-fated Erebus flight. He knew well some of the crew . Ph 027 5308880 or 09 5308880 and ajboyce@xtra.co.nz

A voluntary group, with Lady June Hillary as Patron and Rev Dr Richard Waugh QSM as spokesman, are advocatingfor one official Erebus National Memorial. There is presently no public memorial in New Zealand for the accident where all 257 names are together.

The group, which includes Erebus families, is asking for the national memorial to be ready for the 40th anniversary in November 2019, and for it to be a special place for the families affected by the tragedy, and for all New Zealanders, to remember the accident. See: www.erebusnationalmemorial.nz

Erebus National Memorial spokesperson, Rev Dr Richard Waugh is available for further comment (lives in Howick, Auckland – 022 5339400 or 09 5339400 and rjw@ecw.org.nz).

Dr Waugh adds, “Our advisory group is in touch with many Erebus families including surviving spouses, siblings and other close family, many of whom are now in their 70s and 80s. They are impatient for an official national memorial to the air accident. Did the Government tell the Pike River families and the families of those who died in the Canterbury earthquakes to wait 30 or 40 years before any memorial? Of course not. It is now appropriate for the new Government to help the Erebus families in their ongoing grief, and make decisions to create an attractive national memorial for the 40th anniversary in 2019, where all 257 names can be honoured, and where New Zealand as a nation can remember our worst civil disaster.”

Ways to assist:

Two specific ways people can help the Erebus National Memorial Project -

1) Register interest on the website. Relatives of those who died in the Mt. Erebus accident are especially encouraged to identify themselves for the purpose of regular communication updates. See: www.erebusnationalmemorial.nz

2) Write to The Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Parliament, Private Bag, Wellington (and copy to Erebus National Memorial PO Box 82-363 Highland Park, Auckland 2143), supporting the official Erebus National Memorial.

ENDS

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