Crash tragedy ... From left, Cameraman John Bean, helicopter pilot Gary Ticehurst and journalist Paul Lockyer. Photo: ABC
Three members of an ABC news team are dead following a helicopter crash at Lake Eyre in South Australia.
They are reporter Paul Lockyer, pilot Gary Ticehurst and cameraman John Bean.
The experienced news crew had been working on news and feature projects in the Lake Eyre region and it is believed their Sydney-based helicopter crashed in a remote area north-west of Marree about 7.30 last night.
SA Police confirmed all three on board had died after finding the wreckage this morning.
ABC managing director Mark Scott paid tribute to the men as “three news gatherers at the peak of their craft”.
“This has been the longest of nights and we fear it will be the saddest of days,'' he said.
“Paul, Gary and John have each given decades of service to the ABC. They are passionate about their work and finding great stories from all over Australia to bring to the public.
“These guys loved getting out and about and finding great Australian stories and bringing them to the Australian people and that’s what they have been doing the last few days.
“Our love, thoughts and prayers go out to family and friends of Paul, Gary and John at this terrible time.”
Eyewitnesses described seeing the chopper going down in flames, although it remains unclear what caused the accident.
The weather around Lake Eyre was clear at the time of the crash, with just a few scattered showers. A police investigation is under way.
William Creek pilot Trevor Wright told adelaidenow.com.au yesterday the aircraft had been carrying out aerial photography and video work when it went down. Occupants of the helicopter had been due to meet a group on the edge of the lake for dinner, Mr Wright said.
“When the helicopter didn’t turn up, they became anxious and sent out a search party on foot. Then they found the wreck,” Wright said.
The ABC said Lockyer is one of its most experienced journalists. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he has covered some of the biggest stories that have broken at home and abroad for all forms of television and radio reporting.
He has worked as a correspondent in Washington, Singapore and throughout Asia, won a Logie Award for best TV Reporter, and in recent years built his reputation on unsurpassed coverage of rural and regional issues.
Ticehurst is one of the most experienced media pilots in Australia. He has close to 40 years of helicopter operational experience, which includes 30 years as chief pilot of Film Helicopters Australia, working with the Australian film and television industry.
Bean is an award winning lighting camera operator who has worked for the ABC for 20 years, filming for programs as diverse as News and The 7.30 Report, to Catalyst, The New Inventors and Gardening Australia.
Before his death, Bean had blogged about a trip to Lake Eyre with the same group of colleagues to film news and documentaries last year, when the crew witnessed the rare sight of the lake filling up. “I was completely amazed at what we found. Where was the red, the dust, the caked barren earth, the sand? Instead there was water everywhere, and green, and blue, and yes, there was red,” he wrote.
“I love my job.”.
SOURCE: SMH/PACNEWS
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