Wading through ashes: How Whakaari eruption pilots and crew earned bravery awards
Tuesday, 25 October 2022
Helicopter pilots and crew members who waded through ash in gas masks and helped those caught in the Whakaari eruption have been recognised with bravery awards.
The seven recipients got 12 injured people flown out in commercial helicopters over 40 minutes, and their actions also helped locate casualties and prepare some bodies for recovery, the citation says.
The chief executive of helicopter company Kahu NZ, Mark Law, has been awarded the New Zealand Bravery Star for “an act of outstanding bravery in a situation of danger” for his actions on December 9, 2019.
Six others were recognised with a New Zealand Bravery Decoration for “an act of exceptional bravery in a situation of danger”: Volcanic Air’s chief pilot Tim Barrow and Graeme Hopcroft, Kahu NZ’s Jason Hill, Tom Sandford, Sam Jones and Callum Mill.
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**
The citation for the awards notes that Law, who was amongst the first people on the island post eruption, landed about 3.12pm, almost an hour after the blast.
“Mr Law, while alone, put on a gas mask and waded through shin-deep ash to locate 20 people in the crater.”
Law was later joined by fellow Kahu NZ pilots Tom Storey and Jason Hill.
“With gas masks on, Law, Storey and Hill waded back through ash to the casualties.”
“Ash fell on the men as they moved about and the acidic air made breathing difficult,” the citation said.
“The crew moved from person to person, checking on the casualties who had extensive burns are were in various stages of consciousness.”
The citation notes that the actions of the commercial pilots and crew that day resulted in 20 casualties being found on the crater floor, with 12 injured being removed by the commercial helicopters over 40 minutes, and eight deceased repositioned for later recovery.
Of the 12 people helicoptered out, 10 later died.
The citations also detail the actions of Volcanic pilots Tim Barrow and Graeme Hopcroft, who landed on Whakaari after Law and helped the Kahu NZ crew.
“Barrow and Hopcroft carried a man on their shoulders back to their helicopter, before returning to help casualties onto Mr Law’s helicopter,” the citation said.
“The crews had faced difficulty in loading the casualties, who had no strength to lift themselves, into the high-level doorways of the commercial helicopters, requiring a combined effort from the rescuers.”
In an interview with Stuff just two days after the eruption Barrow described working alongside his fellow pilots and crew to rescue people from the island in an environment of ash and gas.
“It was pretty hard work. We were wearing respirators, you couldn't have worked in that environment without them at that time,” he said.
*CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had incorrect last names for two of the pilots. They are Jason Hill and Sam Jones. (Amended 9.13am, October 26, 2022)