By Hamish Clark
Families of victims of the Erebus disaster have flown to Antarctica to visit the scene of the crash where their loved ones died, 31 years ago.
One-hundred-and-four relatives of passengers and crew will be on the ice for just six hours and have taken part in an emotional memorial service near the mountain.
The journey is one they have all longed to take and are finally making.
The Air Force Boeing departed Christchurch a nine this morning, following the same flight path as the ill-fated DC10 three decades ago.
After five hours, the 757 touched down on the ice, passengers filled with mixed emotions.
“We saw Mt Erebus, we flew round the other side, covered in cloud on the upper reaches,” says Philippa Lewis, whose brother died in the Erebus disaster.
“We saw the strip where the plane went in, so that was special.”
Relatives headed straight to the memorial koru above Scott Base, for a moving memorial service remembering the 257 who perished in the air crash.
“I’m now finishing my dad’s journey – and I’m doing it for my mum,” says Denise Roper, whose father died in the crash.
“To look out and see they died somewhere so beautiful… I’ll remember it the rest of my days,” says Christchurch man Andrew Bond, whose mother and father also perished in the crash.
Air New Zealand says they hope there will be more flights to the ice to come.
One the way home, family members will fly over Erebus, for a final glimpse at the mountain and the resting place of their loved ones.
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