Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register

Local Govt | National News Video | Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Search

 

Helicopter Pilot's Body Recovered

:MEDIA RELEASE:

Wanaka Police

Helicopter Pilot's Body Recovered

Police and Navy divers last night located and recovered the body of missing helicopter pilot Morgan Saxton deep in Lake Wanaka.

Sergeant Aaron Nicholson Wanaka SAR Co-ordinator said 'in very trying conditions the body of Mr Saxton was recovered inside some of the Helicopter wreckage from 94 meters of water just before 9.00pm last night.'

Sgt Nicholson praised the efforts of all those involved in the LandSAR operation to locate and recovery the body of Morgan Saxton.

'This has been a major operation involving Police, Navy, LandSAR volunteers and the local helicopter community. The professionalism of all involved has been exemplary,' he said.

Mr Saxton, 31, went missing on Saturday evening at about 6.00pm when enroute to Wanaka Airport from Haast.

Early indications of a helicopter crash into Lake Wanaka just north of Mou Wahu Island saw an intensive three-day ground, marine and aerial search launched which included extensive use of night vision equipment.

Nicholson said it was clear after this time that efforts needed to be centred under the water and the Police and Navy dive teams were contacted and have been combing the lake bed of the crash site with sophisticated sonar and camera equipment for the past two days.

Apart from Mr Saxton's body, dive teams also recovered most of the fuselage of the two-seater Robinson R22.

The depth of the wreckage is beyond the diving capacity of the search teams, but was recovered by adapting a hook to an underwater remote operated camera, to attach a line to the fuselage.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

'This was classic number eight wire Kiwi ingenuity,' Nicholson said. 'We used a ski pole, a snap hook and LandSAR climbing rope, plus dive team muscle.'

'Everyone involved worked very hard to return Morgan to his family and we are all grateful to have been able to help bring closure to this tragedy.'

Police will be referring the incident to the Coroner for routine investigation into the cause of death.

Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigators were expected to arrive in Wanaka later today to head the crash investigation and decide whether or not to attempt to retrieve the helicopter engine which is in 74m of water.

ends


© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

Gordon Campbell: On How Climate Change Threatens Cricket‘s Future

Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else and complaining that he's inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” - which is how most of us would describe his own coalition agreements, 100-Day Plan, and backdated $3 billion handout to landlords... More


 
 
Public Housing Futures: Christmas Comes Early For Landlords

New CTU analysis of the National & ACT coalition agreement has shown the cost of returning interest deductibility to landlords is an extra $900M on top of National’s original proposal. This is because it is going to be implemented earlier and faster, including retrospective rebates from April 2023. More


Green Party: Petition To Save Oil & Gas Ban

“The new Government’s plan to expand oil and gas exploration is as dangerous as it is unscientific. Whatever you think about the new government, there is simply no mandate to trash the climate. We need to come together to stop them,” says James Shaw. More

PSA: MFAT Must Reverse Decision To Remove Te Reo

MFAT's decision to remove te reo from correspondence before new Ministers are sworn in risks undermining the important progress the public sector has made in honouring te Tiriti. "We are very disappointed in what is a backward decision - it simply seems to be a Ministry bowing to the racist rhetoric we heard on the election campaign trail," says Marcia Puru. More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.