NZ Soldier dies in Unimog accident - Two still missing

[chewie_nz]

Soldier dies in Unimog accident
23 February 2005

A soldier was killed today and two others are missing after a New Zealand Army Unimog vehicle left the road and crashed near Queenstown.


Police said the soldier and vehicle were taking part in an army driver training exercise when the Unimog crashed into the Kawarau River early this afternoon at the Roaring Meg power station in the Kawarau Gorge.

Ambulance and a rescue helicopter were at the scene tending to other injured occupants of the vehicle.

Defence Minister Mark Burton and the Chief of the Defence Force, Air Marshall Bruce Ferguson, in a statement this afternoon, expressed their "deep regret" at the loss of life and injury.

The Army said it will conduct a full investigation into the accident.

It was the second recent fatality involving army soldiers and a Unimog vehicle on a driver training exercise.

In August last year Private Sean James Dougherty, 29, and Private Daniel Kairua, 22, died on August 11 when their Unimog truck rolled almost 400m off Bossu Rd near Wainui on Banks Peninsula.

A third soldier in the Unimog was badly injured in the crash, which happened in icy conditions.

The crash was the fifth fatal incident involving a defence force Unimog since 1994.

A court of inquiry into the April 2000 death of Staff Sergeant Billy White in a Unimog crash in East Timor recommended the army look at the feasibility of putting roll bars into the trucks.

In October three soldiers, two of them women, were injured when a Unimog truck crashed off the road on the Wairarapa coast.

The three were the only occupants of the Unimog when it went off the road near Wimbledon in the Cape Turnagain area, southeast of Dannevirke.

Late in August a Unimog rolled down a bank on to its roof during an exercise inland from Greymouth. No one was hurt.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3197376a10,00.html

 

[A Can of Man]

Well the military isn't a safe job. Even during times of peace there are risks with working with so much heavy equipment and things that go bang.
I just hope their families recover well.

 

[chewie_nz]

Well the military isn't a safe job. Even during times of peace there are risks with working with so much heavy equipment and things that go bang.
I just hope their families recover well.

it's more that both the army and the NZ police have been looking into the driver training section because of these fatalities. there are also calls for roll cages to be fitted to all unimogs still in service

 

[Pyro]

im sure the NZ army doesnt like the idea of roll cages on the Unimog. with the high amount of accidents prehaps it would be a better idea to get rid of them.

 

[chewie_nz]

im sure the NZ army doesnt like the idea of roll cages on the Unimog. with the high amount of accidents prehaps it would be a better idea to get rid of them.

actually some unimogs are fitted with roll cages (esp the ones depolyed overseas) but many are calling for the whole fleet to be fitted.


replacing the unimogs is in the pipeline but much of the strain should be taken off the unimog fleets with the aquisition of the new pinzguer vehicle.
http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7566&highlight=

 

[A Can of Man]

That thing doesn't look like it can carry nearly as much stuff as the unimog.

 

[Charge 7]

Couldn't it also be possible that there's nothing wrong with the vehicle but that the soldiers were baja-ing? I've been through several drivers training courses in my own career and there is the temptation when you go through the road test phase to gun the vehicle. I remember as a youngster I put my head through the canvas canopy of a deuce and half (thank God it wasn't the hardtop kind) going highspeed on the road test. It's a tragedy for the soldiers and their families and I'm sorry for them, but I hope the investigation takes all things into consideration regarding the nature of the accidents and I'm sure they will.

 

[chewie_nz]

Couldn't it also be possible that there's nothing wrong with the vehicle but that the soldiers were baja-ing? I've been through several drivers training courses in my own career and there is the temptation when you go through the road test phase to gun the vehicle. I remember as a youngster I put my head through the canvas canopy of a deuce and half (thank God it wasn't the hardtop kind) going highspeed on the road test. It's a tragedy for the soldiers and their families and I'm sorry for them, but I hope the investigation takes all things into consideration regarding the nature of the accidents and I'm sure they will.

you're right charge, i've travelled with a few army drivers before in various vehicles and was left with the impression that they'd rather be in a fast & low fighter...but hey! there has already been two investigations and nothing has been changed yet, so i'm guessing that they have taken everything into consideration.

in a roll-over the cab of a unimog is NOT a good place to be (wouldn't have helped in this latest accident however)


***************edit**************
more info just to hand;

Divers will start scouring the Kawarau River this morning for two soldiers believed to be in a military Unimog which plunged down a gorge into the river yesterday, killing a third soldier.


Police today named the soldiers as Ashley Patrick Goodwin, 19, from Motueka, who died at the scene, and Private Shane Adrian Ohlen, 21, from Wellington, and Private David James Partington, 17, from Linton who are missing, feared dead.

Police said the soldiers and the vehicle were taking part in an army driver training exercise when the Unimog crashed into the Kawarau River at the Roaring Meg power station in the Kawarau Gorge.

The defence force have said they will conduct an investigation into how the crash happened. It is the fourth fatal accident involving a defence force Unimog in the last five years.

Mr Goodwin and Private Ohlen were based at Burnham Military Camp, and Private Partington was based at Linton Army Camp.

Police believe the missing men's bodies are trapped in the Unimog, which is completely submerged in the rapid river.

Sergeant Steve Ereckson of Cromwell police said as well as a dive team searching the river, the police will also search the riverbanks for the missing men.

He said the speed of the river will make it difficult for the search party.

The focus will be to find the truck first, he said.

Mr Ereckson said the police will also look at why the crash happened.

"The truck, it appears, has ridden along the top of the barrier for quite a distance before coming to a stop straddling the barrier, and we are looking at reasons why it may have dropped down the bank."

He said the road was difficult to drive and all vehicles need to take care driving it.

He said speed, weather and road conditions did not appear to be factors in the crash.


Army spokeswoman Major Denise Mackay today defended the army's safety record

"This was a driver training exercise and what all of the young soldiers who were on this course were learning to do was to drive the Unimog truck.

"They all had their Class 1 licence and they were advancing to the next level, which was why they were practising open road driving in the Unimog."

It was the fourth week of a six week training course.

"They'd been advancing through open road driving. . . once they'd achieved that they would have moved to the next level which meant slightly more complicated and challenging terrain," Maj Mackay told National Radio.

The stretch of State Highway 6 being driven yesterday was an open road, which was well travelled by many different types of vehicles, Maj Mackay said.

"It wasn't a remote area."

The army would undertake a full investigation.

"If there are some recommendations which come out of there that suggest that the army does need to reconsider where Unimog training takes place, that's something we will look at," she said.

In August last year, two soldiers lost their lives on Banks Peninsula when a Unimog left the road.

Private Sean James Dougherty, 29, and Private Daniel Kairua, 22, died when their truck rolled almost 400m off a road near Wainui on the peninsula.

A third soldier in the Unimog was badly injured in the crash, which happened in icy conditions.

The crash was the fifth fatal incident involving a defence force Unimog since 1994.

"(Yesterday) was certainly a different type of road. . .that (Banks Peninsula) inquiry has just concluded and there are a number of recommendations which will be released shortly," Maj Mackay said.

She said yesterday's accident had to be looked at in context.

Unimogs were all fitted with "protective structures", implemented after Staff Sergeant Billy White was killed in a crash in East Timor in April 2000.

"We've taken that precaution already, which I think is important.

"We need to be careful not to take any kneejerk reactions and make sure that any decisions are well considered."

Military police were making their way to Cromwell this morning to work on the crash investigation.

The current driver training course the soldiers were on near Queenstown would not be completed.

Maj Mackay said the army's first priority was to make sure soldiers involved in the accident, and others taking part in the training exercise, were well supported.

"They'll be travelling from Queenstown to Dunedin today, where they'll be meet by one of our army chaplains," she told National Radio.

Military liaison officers were with the three families involved, she said.

SEARCH: A helicopter searches the Kawarau River and scrub in search of two missing soldiers and the Unimog they were travelling in yesterday.

WAITING: Soldiers wait with police for news after one of the Unimogs they travelled with in convoy crashed into the Kawarau River yesterday.

 

[A Can of Man]

Very unfortunate

But I just noticed something. That's a very interesting paint scheme New Zealand has for the type of terrain New Zealand is predominantly covered in. Is it Tan in anticipation of deployment to the desert areas of the world or are the vehicles just given a neutral color before any deployment decision is made?

 

[chewie_nz]

Very unfortunate

But I just noticed something. That's a very interesting paint scheme New Zealand has for the type of terrain New Zealand is predominantly covered in. Is it Tan in anticipation of deployment to the desert areas of the world or are the vehicles just given a neutral color before any deployment decision is made?

********sorry for the big pics******

actually for the south island...tan is a good choice. here is a picture of the Mckenzie Basin in the middle of the south island. mostly tussock land.

north island 'Mogs usually have olive paint jobs

and here is a couple of pics that pics a bit of scale to the accident

http://www.odt.co.nz/Repository/getimage.dll?path=ODT/2005/02/24/1/Img/Pc0011100.jpg

http://www.odt.co.nz/Repository/getimage.dll?path=ODT/2005/02/24/1/Img/Pc0011500.jpg

 

[A Can of Man]

Yeah the northern bit was what I was thinking of.
Thanks!

 

[chewie_nz]

police divers are now saying there is almost no chance of recovering the bodies of the two missing soldiers, who they assume are still trapped in the unimog...which they can't find.

the river at that point is almost 20 meters deep and is part of the clutha river system...which has the same volume as the nile (in a much more confined space)

 

[chewie_nz]

Searchers turn to flood gates
25 February 2005
By NICK GORMACK

Flood-control gates might be used to lower the flow of water into the Kawarau River in a bid to find an army Unimog that ploughed off the Kawarau Gorge highway on Wednesday, killing all three occupants.


Efforts to find the truck and the bodies of two soldiers failed yesterday. River conditions were too dangerous for police divers to do a full dive.

Police yesterday released the names of the soldiers in the Unimog.

They were Private Ashley Patrick Goodwin, 19, from Motueka, whose body was recovered at the scene, and Private Shane Adrian Ohlen, 21, from Wellington, and Private David James Partington, 17, from Linton, whose bodies have not been found.

Pte Goodwin and Pte Ohlen were based at Burnham Military Camp, and Pte Partington at the Linton Army Camp.

Divers wearing snorkels and masks searched the area of river where the truck entered and recovered wreckage from the truck, including the rear window and a seat from the rear of the cab, as well as an army shirt.

The seat was found 10m downstream from where the truck entered the river.

A later helicopter sweep of the river from Lake Dunstan to the accident site and jet-boat and jet-ski searches of the rapids near the crash site revealed nothing.

Police said using the gates at the Kawarau Bridge Falls to cut the water flow into the river could be the next option.

The gates are designed to control lake levels, but have not been used for 10 years and have been damaged by vandals in recent years. Army engineers will look at whether the gates can be operated.

Constable Julian Cahill, from Queenstown police search and rescue, said using the gates could lower the river level by 2m to 3m.

"It's something that we're looking at. The gates haven't been used for a long time, so whether they can be used is something the army and their engineers are coming down to look at."

Queenstown Lakes District Council harbourmaster Marty Black said he had sent photographs of the gates to the army in Wellington.

"But no decision has been made yet, and there's a lot to work through," Mr Black said. "It's not something that will happen overnight."

Const Cahill said it was almost certain the truck had been washed further downstream, although it was impossible to know how far.

"We don't think it's been trapped in a hole near where it went in, but there's about 5km of water where it could have gone."

The search area yesterday was in a very rapid section of the river. Visibility was only about 0.5m.

"There's a huge volume of water going through there in a very confined space - it's about 200 cu m a second. You have a truck with a huge surface area, with a huge volume of water behind it, so it could have been carried down a long way."

New Zealand Land Search and Rescue co-ordinator Adrian Dance said searchers had almost exhausted their options.

Most searching over the next two days would be done from the air. If nothing was found, the search would be reassessed, Mr Dance said

"The divers would have been risking death themselves if they'd tried to dive in there. We may look at using some more sophisticated technology, such as sonar equipment or underwater cameras, to see if anything can be found, but it's hard to know if that will be useful," he said.

"The river takes no prisoners. It's a treacherous piece of water, with all the obvious dangers which come from trying to search there."

Police finished interviewing witnesses to the crash and mapping the accident scene yesterday.

Sergeant Steve Ereckson said the witnesses had given them "a much better picture" of what had happened.

"But it's definitely along the lines of what we initially thought, with the truck hitting the barrier and losing control," he said.

Speed, weather and road conditions did not appear to be factors in the crash, he said.

 

[Elliott]

New Zealand Unimog accident

Although roll bars may be a good idea, they wouldn't have helped in this case.

The Kawarau river swallowed the truck and 2 of the 3 soldiers without a trace. Although only about 25m wide at that point, it is about 20m deep and has a huge flow for its size. The Unimog has probably been swept downstream and the bodies separated from it.

Tragic

 

[chewie_nz]

Unimog may have been found: police



• Kawarau River


By Sophie Hazelhurst



Queenstown: Cromwell police yesterday said they might have located the wreckage of the New Zealand Army Unimog that plunged into the Kawarau River last month.
Data collected with a sonar device on Saturday night had been analysed, and had identified two wheels which appeared to be the front and rear wheel of the truck, Sergeant Steve Ereckson said in a statement.
“The truck appears to be upside down, and in water approximately 8m deep and about 100m downstream from where the vehicle is believed to have entered the river,” he said.
Saturday night’s search party painted an orange mark above the river indicating where the truck is thought to lie.
The sonar device used in the search, called a didson, uses acoustic beams to record data which is transformed into a near-video-quality image of the view underwater.
Sgt Ereckson said the stretch of water where the finding had been made, just downstream of a grade-four rapid, was still “extremely swift water”.
He said a meeting would be held in Queenstown tomorrow with police, search advisers and an army representative, to decide what, if anything, should be done in relation to retrieving the vehicle.
“We will not put anybody’s life at risk to recover the truck,” he said.
The Unimog, being used in a training exercise, ploughed off State Highway 6 and into the river on February 23, killing the truck’s three soldier occupants, Private Ashley Goodwin (19), of Motueka, Private Shane Ohlen (21), of Wellington, and Private David Partington (17), of Linton.
The body of Pte Goodwin was discovered thrown from the truck on its way down to the river, and a second body was found on Friday, about 6km downstream of the crash.
Sgt Ereckson said formal identification could not be made until full dental records arrived with the pathologist in Dunedin.
Police on Saturday said they planned to scale down the search for the third body.

http://www.odt.co.nz/Daily/skins/ODT/navigator.asp?