The ground floor housed refrigeration units for a chiller but could be extended so the entire area became a cool room. The mortuary had been designed with disasters in mind. He told his fiancée he might not be home for Christmas.Īl was there when the first transport vehicle backed in the next day. Nor did he, or others, know how long it would take. It seemed a bit of a consolation prize, he says, noting that “at that stage I had no idea what was involved”. Instead he was told to get ready to work in the mortuary. It was the chance of a lifetime to go to Antarctica.” “I was young, part of me thought it might be a bit of an adventure. Like many others he remembers exactly where he was when he heard about the missing flight, and how he reacted that night when advised he was on standby to go down. He also had a longstanding interest in aviation, had 200-plus flying hours and had read many air accident reports. He was just 24 but had recently done DVI training. Porirua Constable Alan Campbell was one of those drafted in. Meanwhile, the Japanese Embassy was pressing for release of the 24 Japanese visitors among the 54 overseas victims for the customary swift traditional farewell and burial. As well as facing thawing and decomposing remains, police had to liaise with grieving families. The pressure was on from the moment the first arrived. Initially, recognising public and media interest and family sensitivities, they were carried to the mortuary in a convoy of military ambulances and hearses. Victims’ bodies started arriving by RNZAF Hercules at Whenuapai, north of Auckland, from December 6. They worked with pathologists, dentists, photographers, fingerprint experts, radiographers and mortuary technicians, based at the new Auckland Medical School mortuary. They were assigned to teams including Body Movements, Body Reconciliation (Intel) and Inquiries. The task saw 120 police drafted in – many had undertaken DVI training and some had been on standby for the ice recovery phase. The second phase of Operation Overdue - identifying the victims, liaising with families and repatriating remains - involved 10 times as many police as the ice phase and took much longer.Īnd while lower-profile than the recovery work, for those taking part it was undeniably confronting, emotional and difficult.
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