Fox Glacier Chief
Fire Officer John Sullivan said yesterday the community was
devastated to lose respected jump master Rodney Miller (55),
of Greymouth.
The three other dive masters and pilot were also well-known
seasonal locals and their deaths would be keenly felt, he
said.
Mr Sullivan saw the accident from his house and was one of
the first to try to help the victims.
The accident was the worst he could recall. He has been the
fire chief since about 1994 and had helped retrieve the
remains of an aircraft involved in a crash on Franz Josef
Glacier in October 1993, when a twin-engine Nomad 22 crashed
with the loss of nine lives.
In October 1994, seven people died when a Helicopter Line
Squirrel crashed near Fox Glacier.
It had been heartbreaking for crew to work at a scene where
friends were involved "but it's the old adrenaline thing. You
go there and do the job".
Westland District Health Board rural nurses Jackie Cooper and
John Dean, of Franz Josef, and Mary Crooks, of Fox Glacier,
provided support to those affected by the accident.
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