A mother whose three children were killed by a drunk driver has reached out to a grief-stricken father who lost his wife in the Sea World helicopter crash as his young son fights for his life in hospital.
Simon Tadros’s wife, Vanessa Tadros, 36, and the pair’s son, Nicholas, 10, were inside the Sea World helicopter that collided with another chopper mid-air before landing on a sandbank in the Gold Coast on Monday.
Mrs Tadros was among four people who tragically perished in the crash, while Nicholas is currently in hospital on life support.
The Sydney family had been on holiday in the Gold Coast for the New Year.
Devastated father Simon Tadros (pictured left) lost his wife Vanessa Tadros (right) while the pair’s son Nicholas (centre) is on life support
Vanessa and Nicholas were in the Sea World helicopter that tragically collided with another chopper mid-air before crashing onto a sandbank in the Gold Coast on Monday
Mr Tadros, who witnessed the horrific event unfold, is by his surviving son’s bedside table and has asked for the community to pray for Nicholas.
One person who did reach out to Mr Tadros was Sydney mother, Leila Abdallah, who also lost family members in a tragic accident.
Mrs Abdallah’s three children Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna, 8, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, were killed by a drunk driver in Oatlands in 2020.
She called Mr Tadros and spoke with him on the phone for 30 minutes.
‘He was asking for everyone to pray, pray, pray – he wants all the prayers he can get,’ she told The Daily Telegraph.
‘I told him how I can relate to him. He needs to be with his son and, at the same time, he needs to organise the funeral for his wife.’
Mrs Abdallah said the event ‘took me back to our tragedy’ and added that she would pray for Nicholas when she attended Mass.
Both families have relatives who have come from the same area in Lebanon and also are also part of Sydney’s Middle Eastern Christian community.
Sydney mother Leila Abdallah (pictured centre with husband Danny and their children) reached out to Mr Tadros and spoke with him on the phone
Ms Abdallah’s three children Antony, 13, Angelina, 12 and Sienna, eight (all pictured) and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, were killed by a drunk driver in Oatlands in 2020
Four people died in the Sea World crash including Mrs Tadros, pilot Ash Jenkinson, 40, along with British newlyweds Ron Hughes, 65, and wife Diane, 57.
A Queensland Health spokesperson confirmed on Thursday evening that Nicholas Tadros was still in a critical condition.
There have been no further official updates but a cousin of Mrs Tadros told News Corp that Nicholas’s latest surgery to stop internal bleeding had been successful.
Nine-year-old Leon de Silva, from Geelong, suffered brain trauma but woke up in Brisbane Children’s Hospital on Thursday morning.
Besides Nicholas, the two other survivors in the chopper, Leon de Silva, 9, and mother Winnie, 33, are in hospital in a stable condition with multiple injuries.
His mother Winnie, 33, was also awake and in a stable condition with two broken legs, a damaged left knee, broken right shoulder and broken collarbone.
Investigations are under way to discern what caused the fatal crash
Authorities have said they want to know what happened inside the cockpits
A Queensland Health spokesperson said three people from the other helicopter had all been discharged from hospital on Thursday.
Four of the helicopter’s five passengers and the pilot, 52-year-old Michael James, suffered shrapnel wounds when the cockpit’s windshield was struck by the other aircraft’s main rotor.
Video shot by one of the passengers in that aircraft appears to show another passenger trying to warn the pilot that the other helicopter was fast approaching by tapping him on the shoulder.
The passenger then squeezes the edge of the pilot’s seat to brace as the cockpit is sprayed with broken glass after one of the other helicopter’s rotor blades strikes the windshield.
Aviation experts have now pored over the haunting footage recorded from inside the other chopper involved in the disaster and revealed key moments in the video clip – including the final seconds of Mr Jenkinson and his passengers.
Two passengers have a different angle on the outside view and spot the danger, seemingly pointing out the aircraft until one desperately taps the shoulder of the pilot to alert him
The video appears to show the other aircraft may have been hidden by the cockpit pillar to his left (pictured)
One now believes the accident may have been caused by a tragic twist of fate where both helicopters were in each other’s blind spots.
The footage appears to show the rising helicopter may have been hidden from the surviving pilot’s line of sight by the cockpit fuselage.
And the descending chopper, above and to the right, may have been obscured by the angle it was above Mr Jenkinson who was on the far side of his aircraft with two passengers to his right.
‘It’s an extraordinary quirk of fate,’ industry veteran Geoffrey Thomas of AirlineRatings told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The other helicopter that’s taken off is in a blind spot,’ said Mr Thomas.
‘As he’s turning, you can actually see the other helicopter. The passenger in the back can see the helicopter.
‘But if you look at the pilot, part of the cockpit structure is masking that helicopter – and as he turns, it continues to mask the other aircraft.
‘It’s genuinely in his blind spot and stays there – so he was totally unsighted.’