![]() By the time we got to the end we were really struggling.” “It was too long but we were determined to make a start and deliver results. ![]() That first shift lasted 16 hours and saw them clear 56 of the 92 grid squares, recovering 47 bodies. “We cleared those bottom seven rows early to save walking up and down, which was very tiring.” There weren’t too many bodies there because the aircraft bellied in and broke up as it ploughed up the slope, throwing those on board out as it went. Recovery started at the bottom of the crash site, using the grid map which Greg had transferred to paper while stuck in his tent during the storm. Despite being on the frozen continent, leaked antifreeze from TE901 was reacting with sunlight and causing some bodies to thaw. The bags weren’t designed to hold bodies frozen into abnormal positions with limbs in all directions. All played a part and despite their designations were, as Stu puts it, de facto police officers.īoth Greg and Stu pay tribute to the photographers who, despite being young and probably not having seen a body before, pitched in and helped retrieve bodies and manoeuvre them into body bags. The new arrivals gave Greg two teams, each comprising two police, a mountaineer and a US Navy photographer. ![]() Double-crewed, they could only carry three passengers. Once it abated they were joined by US Navy photographers and three more police officers.Īrrivals and departures were constrained not only by weather but also by the helicopters’ size. They started body recovery at 2am on December 4.īefore that Greg, Stu and new arrival Constable Bruce Thompson had to sit out a storm which saw a temperature of -40 degrees with wind chill and had them sheltering nervously in their tents wondering whether they’d survive. ![]()
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