TV3 News

Monday, 15 January 2001, 6:20 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

Kids Found – Helicopter Crash – Earthquake – Terralink – Whopper Shark Netted

KIDS FOUND: An ordeal for two tiny tots and a nightmare for their parents is over. Two small children are found alive 1km from where they went missing at Hunua Falls yesterday. The five and six year old were found 24 hours after they went missing. A massive search operation was mounted with more than 100 searchers involved from day break. They scoured the Hunau falls track and its environs. The wet weather and the disappearance without a sign was terrifying the parents. Father shown in tears. Searchers remained confident of finding the children. Police say the kids are unhurt but hungry.

HELICOPTER CRASH: Tourists in Wellington had to run for their lives after a helicopter crashed next to the lookout point on the summit of the hill. The Iroquois had been shifting dirt from an inaccessible section. The pilot who died was 52-year-old Andrew Shaw. Several tourists on the summit are interviewed. Ambulance staff say the pilot died of head injuries. One of the witnesses was the American Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun. She took a blanket up to the summit.

EARTHQUAKE: An earthquake off the coast of El Salvador has claimed hundreds, possibly thousands of lives. In San Salvador 400 houses were buried in mud. Only three people have so far been recovered alive. Dozens of families remain in mourning. An American priest described the strange feeling of the quake. NZ is giving $100,000 at government level for earthquake aid. 0800 donation lines have been set up by the charities.

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TERRALINK: For the first time a SOE has been placed in receivership and may have to be sold off. Terralink staff were sent home following the government announcement. Michael Cullen says it is not a pleasurable thing to be involved with. A contract to digitise maps for Landoonline has gone sour due to a $15 million contract with cost overruns. 80 staff involved in the project will be laid off while the jobs of the other 200 it is hoped will be saved.

WHOPPER SHARK NETTED: One minute it was a dead shark the next minute it was alive again. The tiger shark was netted and kids posed for photographs before they realised it was alive. Then they towed her around behind a boat when they realised she was alive before handing her over to Kelly Tarlton’s staff. The shark is now in Kelly Tarlton’s undersea aquarium and is the largest shark the popular Auckland aquarium attraction has.

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

Contact Alastair Thompson

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