Greg kept a very detailed diary, including exact dates and times, which have been incorporated into a timeline of the recovery operation.Ī 3D infographic shows the grid plan at the crash site marked with green flags, each denoting where a body part had been located.Īll items recovered at the site were photographed and catalogued, from the prosaic – cutlery and playing cards – to the poignant, such as clothing, jewellery and watches, which in some cases were used to helped identify victims. Much of the detail that forms the basis of the display comes from former police officers Stu Leighton and Greg Gilpin, who were part of the body recovery team. ![]() Museum director Rowan Carroll says there was a huge amount to sift through, including personal items, reports and photos, many of which are “beautiful, stirring and frightening”. Research for the exhibition included establishing a list of all those who had worked on Operation Overdue – not just police – in the body recovery and mortuary phases (270 people) and sorting through historical documents. Soon after that, Operation Overdue was launched, and DVI team members realised they were about to face a real-life situation in difficult conditions in Antarctica. ![]() ![]() Within hours of the course finishing, news came through that the radio contact had been lost with an Air New Zealand DC10 whilst over Antarctica. In the intervening years there have been multiple reports and inquiries into the causes of the tragedy, all marked by controversy and imbued with overwhelming sadness.įour decades on, for the people whose loved ones died and for those who were responsible for bringing the bodies home, there is acknowledgment of the huge impact it had on their lives.Ī memorial is planned for Auckland, and the Police Museum in Porirua has compiled a new exhibition – Operation Overdue: The New Zealand Police Story – that will focus on the role of police in the recovery phase.Ī Police disaster victim identification team that had been set up eight months prior to the crash was holding a training meeting at Police National Headquarters on the day of the crash. The 1979 plane crash on Mt Erebus in which 257 people died remains New Zealand’s single largest loss of life.
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