It was the unknown conditions we would encounter, affecting our safety on the crash site that caused some apprehension. Because of my experience from the type of work I had been involved in during my policing career to that stage, I was well prepared. I had no doubts, even taking into account the magnitude of the disaster and what we would face, that I could cope with the recovery of victims. We were well aware that families of the deceased would be wanting a speedy return of their loved ones. The whole country was grieving and affected by the disaster, New Zealand’s worst in terms of loss of life, and we knew that the eyes of the country and to some extent, the world were on us. The flight was one of contemplation on what lay ahead. Along with New Zealand Mountain Face Rescue personnel who would look after our safety on the mountain, we left Christchurch Airport at 5.15pm on the 29th of November, arriving at Williams Field, McMurdo Sound in the early hours of the 30th of November. We flew to Christchurch and were outfitted with survival clothing and footwear at the DSIR Antarctic Division, Christchurch Airport. I said an emotional farewell to my wife and three young children and because of the type of job we were heading to, and the location, genuinely wondered whether I would see them again. I returned home to pack and was confronted with what clothing to take considering the environment we were heading to. I arrived at work early that morning and was told the DVI squad would be deployed to Antarctica. At around 3am the next morning, I was phoned at home and informed that the aircraft had been located on the slopes of Mt Erebus, there appeared to be no survivors and that I was on standby to go. I listened to media updates and could not sleep. Like all of New Zealand that evening, I was stunned. It occurred to me that the DVI squad may be called upon, but thought if the aircraft had gone down in Antarctica, the location and environment may rule that out. I remember an officer remarking during this that he doubted whether we would ever be deployed.įollowing this, I worked a late shift and became aware that flight TE901 was overdue. Coincidentally on the 28th of November, the day of the DC-10 disaster, a revision day was held for the DVI squad at Police National Headquarters, Wellington. Never did we imagine that, if we were ever required, it would be out of New Zealand in one of the coldest, most inhospitable and remote but beautiful regions of the world. There were four non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and six constables from various locations around New Zealand.įrom the time of the formation of the squad we periodically trained in DVI procedures in preparation for deployment should such a disaster occur. The Antarctic phase of 'Operation Overdue' was under the command of Inspector Robert Mitchell. The squad was formed months prior to the Erebus disaster. DVI is an internationally recognised system of body recovery and identification of victims of large-scale disasters. The police group comprised of Search and Rescue and Disaster Victim Identification Squad (DVI) trained officers.
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