Plane found after 25 years

2004-11-29 08:04

Wellington - Wreckage of an Air New Zealand sightseeing plane that crashed in Antarctica 25 years ago, killing all 257 people on board, has been uncovered by melting snow in an unusually warm spring, a newspaper reported on Monday.

A piece of fuselage of the DC-10, a jet engine and some orange cargo netting were spotted on the slopes of 3 794-metre-high Mount Erebus on Sunday when a group of five men flew to the mountain for a short wreath-laying service to mark the 25th anniversary of the crash, Wellington's Dominion Post reported.

The report said the wreckage had not been seen for years but a light snow year in the Antarctic and an unusually warm spring had combined to reveal it.

Why the plane, carrying 237 passengers and 20 crew on a non-stop scenic flight from Christchurch, flew into the mountain remains the subject of intense debate a generation later.

An accident investigation blamed pilot error, but a judge's inquiry subsequently accused the airline of a cover-up, saying coordinates on the plane's automatic navigation system were altered without telling the captain and his fellow officers.

Polar explorer and Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary, 85, flew to Antarctica for the anniversary and read a poem at another service at New Zealand's Scott Base.

Hillary was scheduled to be on the sightseeing flight as guide and commentator but pulled out at the last minute and was replaced by his climbing and polar companion Peter Mulgrew.

Hillary told the Dominion Post that he lost his best friend that day.

- SAPA