Six dead after missing vintage plane is found at 'high-impact' crash site in Queensland

Six people found dead in the wreckage of a vintage aircraft are believed to have been killed instantly when the plane plunged into rugged bushland on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Almost 48 hours after it vanished on Monday, rescue helicopters today spotted a glimpse of red and then saw the wreckage of the 1934 DH84 De Havilland Dragon in dense forest near the Borumba Dam, south of Gympie.

After landing nearby and walking 200 metres to the crash site, 14km northwest of the dam wall, a team of paramedics and doctors established there were no survivors.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokesman Mike Barton said it was “a high impact” crash site.

“The plane is not in a condition that you would recognise,” he told reporters.

Mr Barton said it was apparent the plane was travelling fast when it crashed on Monday and hit the ground hard. He said it was too early to tell what caused the crash.

“They have hit the ground exceedingly hard and the aircraft is fundamentally destroyed.”

Formal identification may take up to two days, but police yesterday identified those on board as veteran pilot Des Porter, 68, his wife Kath Porter, 61, and their friends John and Carol Dawson, both 63, and Les and Janice D'Evlin, aged 74 and 61 respectively.

Their next of kin have been notified.

The discovery of the wreckage ended an intensive search which by early this afternoon involved up to 16 helicopters and which extended nearly 600 square nautical miles west from Gympie and south to Maleny.

Inspectors from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are heading to the scene to determine the cause of the accident.

The recovery effort is expected to take some time, given the crash site is in a remote and heavily wooded area.

The crash is Australia's worst since 15 people died in the Lockhart River air disaster on Cape York Peninsula in May 2005.

The biplane disappeared while flying from Monto to Caboolture, in south-east Queensland, on Monday afternoon.

Mr Porter had called for help and activated a distress beacon.

Before contact was lost, he told air traffic controllers he had flown into clouds, didn't know his location and needed help.

Mr Barton said he personally knew Mr Barton and the discovery was a blow for everyone who knew the veteran pilot and his five passengers.

“It was always our hope today that we'd find this site, and we'd find survivors, but that is not the case.”

Mr Barton said the antique plane community would miss Mr Porter deeply, and he felt deeply for the family and friends of all six people who perished.

Mr Porter survived a 1954 crash involving the same model aircraft. The Brisbane Telegraph at the time reported he was flying with his father James and his elder brother Keith, in a plane owned and flown by James.

The plane crashed in Doboy Creek in Brisbane's south. James and Keith died but Mr Porter, who was 11 at the time, was saved from the sinking aircraft by rescuers, who cut a hole in the fuselage and dragged him out.

Wednesday 3 October 2012

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/searchers-find-missing-aircraft-near-south-queensland-dam/story-e6frg6nf-1226487392979

Retreating Italian Glacier Reveals Dead From World War I

Two soldiers' bodies from World War I have been discovered on an Italian mountain, the Telegraph reports.

Workers on the Presena glacier in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of the Dolomites in Italy found the bodies at an altitude of 9,850 feet. The glacier has been receding because of an unusually hot summer and the workers were covering it with a giant tarpaulin to keep it from thawing further.

The area was the scene of high-altitude fighting between Austrian and Italian forces towards the end of the war.

Historians believe the men may have died on 3 September 1918, during what was called "the great battle".

The soldiers are believed to have been from an artillery unit of the Austro-Hungarian army and were killed in 1918. The skeletons were identified by remnants of uniform and insignia. No word yet on whether they can be named.

During World War I, Italy fought against Austro-Hungarian and German forces in the bitter cold of the mountaintops. One favorite tactic was to fire artillery shells above enemy positions to cause avalanches to bury them. In other cases soldiers died from wounds or exposure and were lost. Many of these bodies have been found in later years.

The Presena glacier isn't the only one melting. The entire Alps is seeing less ice cover, reducing the number of ski slopes and increasing the risk of avalanches for trekkers.

The preserved bodies were spotted and retrieved by Maurizio Vincenzi. Map of Peio, Italy

Not only is he an amateur historian, but he is also a member of the local mountain rescue team, and the director of the military history museum at the small town of Peio.

The museum announced the discovery on Sunday, after Mr Vincenzi and his colleagues recovered the bodies on Friday.

Mr Vincenzi, 46, said: "Using binoculars, I saw what looked like a stain on the Forni glacier and went to look."

"When I got close, I discovered they were the bodies of soldiers frozen in the glacier. Nothing like this has ever happened in my lifetime. Bodies haven't been found in the ice around here for decades," he said.

The bodies were preserved by the ice. He said the bodies were found upside down, encased in ice.

Their uniforms included leather belts, a gas mask and a cap with a star on it - all in good condition.

It is thought the men may have died in a grenade attack.

The battle, 86 years ago, was won by the Austrians, but they lost 11 men in the process.

"This is an important discovery from a historical point of view, and exciting for the communities on both sides of the border," said Mr Vicenzi.

A funeral for the men is planned for Tuesday afternoon, after which they will be laid to rest in the local military cemetery.

The Presena glacier isn't the only one melting. The entire Alps is seeing less ice cover, reducing the number of ski slopes and increasing the risk of avalanches for trekkers.

Wednesday 3 October 2012

http://www.gadling.com/2012/10/02/retreating-italian-glacier-reveals-world-war-one-dead/

Eight still missing in Ilam landslide

Eight of the 14 people swept away by a landslide along the Mechi Highway on Sunday night were still missing till Tuesday night.

Although a joint team of Nepal Police, Armed Police Force (APF) and Nepal Army (NA) personnel, accompanied by local villagers, searched for the missing people from Tuesday morning, no bodies were found. "We found only some dismembered parts," said DSP Bishnu KC, Chief of District Police Office (DPO) of Ilam. On Monday, six dead bodies were recovered from the debris.

Five vehicles -- a truck, two pick up vans and two cars -- were swept away by the landslide in Kolbung VDC of Ilam district on Sunday night.

Three of the six people killed in a landslide that hit the Mechi Highway at Harkate, Kolbung-1 in Ilam district on Sunday night, have been identified. Fourteen people had gone missing in the disaster.

Those identified are 42-year-old Saran Pradhan and Rabi Gupta of Fikkal-6, Ilam district and 15-year-old Tshering Kesang Kesang Sherpa of Sukepokhari, Darjeeling, India, the District Police Office, Ilam stated.

Pradhan´s body was found some 500 metres from the landslide site while the bodies of Gupta and Sherpa were found in the Biring stream flowing through Ghailadubba-9 Jhapa district

Sand excavation banned

A day after a massive landslide in the Harkate-Hanspokhari section of the Mechi Highway, an emergency meeting of the District Natural Disaster Rescue Committee of Ilam on Tuesday banned sand excavation along the highway. According to Assistant Chief District Officer of Ilam Purushottom Ghimire sand excavation will not be allowed along the Ilam section of the Mechi Highway. "The ban will be effective in the areas between Sunmai and Ranke," Neupane said. He said that the ban was necessary to avoid landslides along the highway.

"I survived by clinging to the truck"

Roshan Tamang, a landslide survivor

I was driving a pick-up van ahead of a truck along the Mechi Highway on Sunday night. I saw some stones and boulders coming down from the roadside hill. I stopped the van. So did the truck. Ravi Gupta, of Fikkal bazaar, and my assistant Kumar Tamang were in the van. Shortly, more stones and boulders started falling on the road. Ravi panicked and jumped out of the van. Our van was buried under the debris of the landslide in no time. I and Kumar somehow managed to get hold of the truck. We clung to the truck until stones and boulders stopped falling over us and we just fled the landslide site. Soon, the truck was also swept away by the landslide. Had we not escaped the site on time, we might have also been buried in the landslide

Wednesday 3 October 2012

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=42861

Bus plunges into ravine in Peru, killing 22 Read more: Bus plunges into ravine in Peru, killing 22

A bus riding along a foggy road in Peru plunged into a ravine, killing 22 people and leaving 16 injured, a news agency reported Tuesday.

Two foreigners were among the dead: a Spanish engineer working in Peru and a Venezuelan tourist, the Andina agency said.

The accident happened Monday near the city of Huarmaca, about 850 kilometers (530 miles) north of Lima.

The agency said the fog was apparently the cause of the tragedy.

Peru’s roads are among the most dangerous in Latin America, with 2,900 people killed in accidents in 2010 and 2,583 in 2011, according to government figures.

Perilous mountain roads and the shoddy condition of Peruvians’ cars and trucks are the cause of most of the accidents.

Last month 14 people died in an accident on a secondary road in the southeast Cuzco region.

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Read more: Bus plunges into ravine in Peru, killing 22 - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/bus-plunges-into-ravine-in-peru-killing-22-1.151926##ixzz28DzfgEHb