The cause of a helicopter crash that officials believe may have killed four missing members of
the Defense Force is being looked into by the federal government, making it the worst military
mishap to occur in Australia during peacetime in almost 20 years.
Most senior defense and foreign policy officials from Australia and the United States expressed
their shock at the horrific disaster, which has rekindled long-standing worries about the technical
issues that have dogged the MRH-90 Taipan, the crashed aircraft.
The downing of the army chopper during a late-night joint military exercise with the US led to a
brief halt of Talisman Sabre, the nation’s largest wargame, and threw a shadow over the high-
level Australia-United States Ministerial (AUSMIN) discussions in Brisbane.
Near Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, the accident site has been searched for the four
troops who have been missing since Friday at 10.30 p.m. by about 800 members of the defense
and emergency services.
On Saturday night, the military’s 6th Aviation Regiment, located in Holsworthy, Sydney, was
identified by defense officials as the crew of the chopper.
Off the Queensland coast, authorities have discovered several pieces of debris that resemble
helicopter wreckage.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said the AUSMIN meetings had been held with “heavy hearts”
and the accident had shown the valor of Australian military troops.
He characterized military training exercises like Talisman Sabre as “serious, dangerous, and
risky.”
Marles stated earlier in the day: “The families of the four aircrew have been notified of this
incident and our hopes and thoughts are very much with the aircrew and their families.”
Since 2005, when nine Australian service members were killed when a navy helicopter crashed
in Indonesia during earthquake relief operations, it is thought that the tragedy involving the
missing army troops would be the nation’s worst peacetime military accident if they did not survive.
We are reminded that people who serve our country do so while acknowledging the risk that
such service implies and by displaying the fortitude to assume that risk on our behalf every day,
said foreign minister Penny Wong.
The crew was confirmed to be from Sydney’s 6th Aviation Regiment at Holsworthy Barracks by
Brigadier Damian Hill, the aircraft’s commanding officer. The “aviation accident investigation team” will
arrive on Saturday afternoon, he said, and the probe into the incident will start then.
