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| Down Under |
| Captains Tears of despair for family lost |
| 2005-04-03 |
| THE voice of the ship's captain wavered as he delivered the news the crew of HMAS Kanimbla had dreaded for almost an hour. "It's been confirmed that members of our family have died," Commander George Maguire told the dinner mess over the loudspeaker shortly after 8pm yesterday. Two hundred brave men and women bowed their heads in pain, and reached out to each other. Tears that had half dried on faces turned to anguised streams and their leader offered the news that the ship was now under steam towards the scene of the crash. "We will go and collect our friends," he said. Yesterday had dawned as one of hope for both the devastated people of Nias and the Australian defence personnel who were dispatched to help them. Kanimbla, which had been turned around at Singapore just days before its crew were to meet up with family at home, was the first ship carrying aid to arrive in the shattered area. They were exhausted and disappointed to not see their families, but the satisfaction of doing a hard job well meant many were smiling despite a hard day treating dozens of serious injuries and unloading supplies. Everybody felt great because it was going so well. They had done this before and it was going really smoothly this time. There was a lot of optimism and they were expecting to treat more people. All of a sudden everything changed. The Sea King called Shark Zero Two crashed as it landed in a remote area of Nias. In such a tight unit it didn't take long before everyone knew there was a problem. Shortly afterwards a second aircraft saw smoke and visited the crash site. They saw the wreck was completely burnt out. The only good news was that two men were alive. They have been brought back to the ship to be operated on. But it was little solace. The reality of a mission gone so wrong was barely able to be comprehended. All the remaining staff could do was to hold onto each other and cry. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |