New Zealand skydiving plane crash

Badly injured victims of a plane crash in Motueka this morning were conscious and reassuring each other when help arrived, according to the first rescuers on the scene. Ambulance staff said two of the six people on the Skydive Nelson Cessna 185 plane were in critical condition with head injuries. The others on board the plane were badly hurt.

The 29-year-old aircraft lost power as it was taking off, and crashed deep inside a kiwifruit orchard on College St near Motueka airfield about 9.30am. It hit kiwifruit vines and slewed round 180 degrees as it struck.

All the injured were taken to Nelson Hospital by helicopter or ambulance, with the first - a 35-year-old man with serious head and chest injuries - arriving at 10.19am. The second critically injured patient arrived 25 minutes later.

Paramedic Hank Bader said the six people had suffered injuries including to the head and chest, and broken legs.

Father and son Ian and Cliff Satherley were working on an orchard with Pip Hart when they heard the plane go down nearby. They raced over to the crash site.

When they got there, they found people both outside and inside the badly wrecked plane, all conscious.

They were "just lying there quietly, reassuring each other. What they were doing was really good", Cliff Satherley said.

"All we did was reassure them, and make sure they were all breathing until emergency services arrived. Thank God there was no fire."

St John volunteer Vickie Hovenden, a nearby resident, arrived and emergency services - called by neighbour Ron Ewers - were not long behind her.

Fire engines, the Fire Service emergency vehicle and ambulances, quickly converged on the scene. Cordons were thrown up around the crash site, apparently amid fears that the aircraft's full fuel tanks could ignite.

Emergency services put out calls for doctors and extra medical staff from Nelson and Wakefield.

She said the plane had reached about treetop height when it appeared to lose power and plunged to the ground.

Her husband Ron ran inside and phoned emergency services. "They responded really quickly. It only seemed like a couple of minutes and they were there."

Mr Ewers witnessed the crash and said that the engine stopped as the plane was climbing.

"They're always working a bit when they take off. This one stopped working. We knew it was in trouble, being that plane we know he doesn't cut the motor for fun."

The plane did not get more than about 20 metres above the ground.

"The nose went down, it did a twist and then started down."

Senior Sergeant Grant Andrews of Motueka police said there were six people on the plane - a pilot, a video camera operator, two jumpmasters, and two passengers.

The crashed plane was a mangled mess, with a wheel and undercarriage debris scattered around.

"It's a miracle there are any survivors," Mr Andrews said.

He said when emergency services arrived they had to cut some people out of the plane and some had been flung out.

Stuart Bean, owner operator of Skydive Nelson, said the Cessna was bought two years ago and there had been no problems with it before.

Weather conditions were perfect and there was nothing unusual about the operations, said Mr Bean, a pilot. Six people was a normal load for the aircraft.

The plane was built in 1972 but was "not old for a Cessna", Mr Bean said.

The 10-year-old company, which employs six people, has one other aircraft and has operated out of Motueka since September 1999. Previously it was in Nelson.

Mr Bean declined to identify the people involved.

A Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigator was on the way from Christchurch.

Staff at the Skydive Nelson office were busy contacting relatives and friends of the people involved in the accident. Victim Support workers were on hand.

Nelson Hospital was well-prepared and equipped to handle the injured in the crash, general manager Keith Rusholme said.

Scheduled surgery was postponed in preparation for the arrival of the six patients, while all theatre, accident and emergency and intensive care unit staff were put on standby.

"Initially we had a full staffing component. We put everything on maximum alert and then wind it down from there, depending on what happens," Mr Rusholme said.

"In terms of numbers, this doesn't happen very often. But we're trained for this kind of thing."

Patients due to be transferred from Christchurch to Nelson Hospital because of the nurses' strike, remained in Christchurch for the time being.

Tasman Mayor John Hurley received news of the crash at a Tasman District Council meeting this morning and said his first thoughts were for the injured people.

"It (the skydive operation) is a well-run organisation in my view, from the information we have on it. It's a very regrettable situation.