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Craig Saxon announces Erebus flight lost
US Navy situation report on 28 November 1979 announcing that Air New Zealand has listed TE901 as lost and out of fuel. The airline's public affairs director, Craig Saxon, issued the following statement:
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Transcript
Craig Saxon: Well it's with great regret that we must now accept that the aircraft is lost. Fuel reserves were exhausted approximately half an hour ago and the aircraft has to be down. We can only reiterate Mr Davis's [Air New Zealand chief executive Morrie Davis] comments expressed earlier that there is still considerable hope. The aircraft has extensive life support systems on board, in the way of rafts, vests and that sort of thing. And while the exact locality of the main search area must still remain vague because of the nature of the communications blackout, we're still - we would like to say that there is still some hope that passengers may be alive.
Image: Archives New Zealand, Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga, Christchurch Regional Office Reference: CAHU CH282 2-38 p3. US Navy SITREP [SITuation REPort] from 28 November 1979.
Sound file: Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Reference: News highlights compilation, 1963-1988, CD Two, track 3.
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YahooHow to cite this page: 'Craig Saxon announces Erebus flight lost', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/sound/craig-saxon-announces-erebus-flight-lost, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 11-Nov-2009
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