The stepfather of a 10-year-old Sydney boy who is in critical condition due to a fatal helicopter collision on the Gold Coast has asked people to pray for his son.
Simon Madras is also grieving the death of his wife Vanessa Taros, 36, who died when two helicopters crashed into one another near the Sea World amusement park on Monday afternoon.
His stepson Nicholas has since been in an induced coma on life support, fighting for life in the ICU at a Gold Coast hospital.
“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have to inform everyone of the passing of my beautiful wife and mother to my son, Vanessa,” the grief-stricken dad posted on social media on Tuesday night.
“I do ask that if everyone can please say a prayer for Nicky, so he can wake up and make a good recovery.
“He is in a very serious and critical state. I’m asking for all your prayers to bring my little man back to me.”
A fundraiser launched by Rochelle Fajloun, a friend of the family, to help with funeral and medical costs had raised almost $10,000 (US$6,800) by Wednesday noon.
The incident also claimed the lives of British-born pilot Ashley Jenkinson, 40, and British newlyweds Ron and Diane Hughes, 65 and 57.
The helicopter, which had seven people aboard, fell from a height and slammed into a sandbar after its main rotor struck the windscreen of a second helicopter and detached.
Meanwhile, a 33-year-old mother Winnie De Silva and her nine-year-old son Leon De Silva survived the accident but were both rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
Leon has brain trauma with facial and head injuries and a cracked skull in Brisbane Children’s hospital, while his mother suffered two broken legs, a damaged left knee, a broken right shoulder, and a broken collarbone in the crash.
Neil De Silva, De Silva’s husband and Leon’s stepfather, watched the events unfolded.
“Winnie and Leon’s helicopter took off, it only went about 200 metres in the air,” he told Herald Sun.
“I could see the other helicopter that was due to land … it looked like they were going to crash into one another.”
“As it got close, I was thinking ‘this is crazy, this looks really bad’ and I just went numb.”
The family were on a budget holiday to the Gold Coast when the accident happened.
The heartbroken husband only found out his wife and stepson had survived until an hour and a half after the accident.
“It’s tragic for Winnie and Leon, but they survived … my heart goes out to the ones that didn’t,” De Silva told Nine News.
He also set up a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help pay for his wife and stepson’s treatment and his Gold Coast accommodation. By 5.30 p.m. Wednesday, it had raised $35,061, exceeding the $20,000 goal.
All Passengers in Other Helicopter Survived
The second helicopter, piloted by 52-year-old Michael James, was in the air for less than 20 minutes before the crash. James managed to land on the sandbar, saving the lives of his five passengers, four of whom suffered glass shrapnel injuries.
James and two passengers remained in the hospital on Tuesday night.
The passengers included a Western Australian woman and two New Zealand couples in their 40s who were travelling together.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash to discover what’s happening inside the two cockpits at the point of impact.
Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said the ascending helicopter’s main rotor blades hit the cockpit of the descending helicopter.
“Now, exactly whether that was the very first point of impact we’re yet to determine,” Mitchell told reporters on Tuesday.
“But that in itself has led to the main rotor and the gearbox separating from the main helicopter, which then had no lift and has fallen heavily to the ground.”
Locals have placed flower tributes at the site of the tourist hotspot.
Police divers left the scene around 6 p.m. Tuesday after searing through the area and removing the final pieces of the wreckage during the afternoon.
AAP contributed to this article.
