Dromara man in airport rescue

Dromara man in airport rescue

17 April 2019

DROMARA adventurer Noel Hanna sprang into action to help when a plane crashed just 30 metres away from him in Nepal.

The mountain climber helped to carry a dead security guard away after he was killed when a plane attempting to take off at the airport in the Himalayas crashed into a helicopter.

Three people, including the co-pilot, died on Sunday morning at Tenzing-Hillary Airport at Lukla, known as the world’s most dangerous airport. 

Mr Hanna, who now lives with his wife, Lynne, in South Africa, said that his 15 years’ experience as a police officer in Co Down kicked in when the crash happened.

He is leading a small group up Mount Everest and was enjoying a cup of coffee at a nearby cafe when he heard the crash.

“We had just arrived 30 minutes before and were waiting to sort our bags out and speak to our porters,” said Mr Hanna.

“Planes were coming in and out and the next thing this plane was taking off veered off to the right-hand side down into where a helicopter has just landed. 

“We just heard the thud, then everybody started to run towards it. Most people just stand and take photos and don’t know what to do. Obviously with me being in the police for 15 years and being used to responding to incidents, you automatically go in search and rescue mode. 

“There was a body of one of the security guards just lying there and people were just walking over him, maybe not even noticing him as they were looking down to the plane.

“But I ran and got a policeman to get a stretcher so that people wouldn’t take photographs of the body. We lifted him and a few of us carried him away. We obviously knew he was dead due to the condition he was in so we carried him off down the road and got a tarpaulin to cover him.”

Mr Hanna said that he thought the dead man had been hit on the head by the helicopter propellor.

He said that many people standing by were unable to move to help as they were shocked by the accident.

Mr Hanna, and a man who identified himself as a doctor, began to check the plane for survivors. It became clear to them that the co-pilot had been killed in the impact.

However, as there were no passengers on board, the only fatalities were two runway security guards and the pilot. 

Mr Hanna said: “Lukla is known as a very dangerous airport and there have been a number of accidents before this.

“There’s not much room for planes to turn around and there’s only a short runway off the side of cliff. The accident happened about 20 metres along the runway as the pilot was taking off.”

Meanwhile, Mr Hanna said that hopefully he will have scaled Everest nine times by the end of next month.

He is hoping to climb two mountains in Pakistan in July and along with his wife intends to climb a 8,000m peak in the Himalayas without oxygen in September.