On 28 November 1979, 237 passengers and 20 crew were killed when Air New Zealand Flight TE901 crashed into the side of Mt Erebus, Antarctica. The tragedy was followed by a demanding recovery operation and a raging debate over who or what was to blame
This month marks the 41st anniversary of the sinking of the ferry Wahine. With more than 50 lives lost, this was New Zealand's worst modern maritime disaster. The Wahine’s demise on 10 April 1968 also heralded a new era in local TV news as pictures of the disaster were beamed into Kiwi living rooms.
12 February 2009 marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Penguin, NZ's worst 20th century maritime disaster. The disasters timeline provides a quick overview of our worst natural disasters, transport accidents, fires, mining accidents and other tragedies that have caused major loss of life.
New Zealand's worst railway disaster occurred on Christmas Eve 1953, when the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the swollen Whangaehu River near Tangiwai. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. The tragedy stunned the world and left a nation in mourning.
For most second-class travellers, travelling the main trunk meant a long, sleepless journey on hard-backed seats, struggling to find 'elusive comfort with the NZR pillow'.
HRH the Duke of Edinburgh attends the mass funeral at Karori Cemetery, Wellington, on 31 December 1953 for 21 of the victims of the Tangiwai tragedy. A few months later the grave was exhumed when it became clear that a number of the bodies were misidentified.
This map of Wellington Harbour is adapted from the original that appeared in the police inquiry report. It shows the location of the Wahine sinking and some key points in the rescue operation.
The court of inquiry that met 10 weeks after the sinking pinpointed the build-up of water in the vehicle deck as the reason the ferry finally capsized.
Fire was the scourge of colonial towns and cities. Old, tinder-dry wooden buildings and books were a highly combustible combination, and many private and public libraries caught alight.
In 1895 the old Penguin initiated regular sailings
between Lyttelton and Wellington.
Fourteen years later, while running between Picton and Wellington, the Penguin sank with the loss of 75 lives.
In this page from Air New Zealand's The Antarctic experience brochure, Mt Erebus – the 'sentinel of McMurdo' – is clearly visible from the DC-10's cockpit.
The bodies of the victims of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 were flown by Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules aircraft to Whenuapai Air Base in Auckland.
By the time the second flight carrying bodies from the Erebus disaster crash site arrived on 10 December 1979 the pathology teams tasked with determining cause of death had completed post mortem examinations on the first 114 bodies
Hear Prime Minister Sidney Holland's Christmas Day announcement about the Tangiwai disaster. Holland spoke by phone from Waiouru Military Camp to Wellington, where the recording was made on disc for later broadcast.
