A chilling video has emerged from contained in the cockpit of one among the 2 helicopters involved in a deadly mid-air collision in Australia – as a passenger taps the pilot on the shoulder to warn him of impending disaster.
The footage obtained by 7 News it shows a tourist within the back seat of a descending helicopter attempting to warn pilot Michael James by pointing ahead.
James turns to the passenger, who then prepares to collide with a second helicopter on Monday afternoon near Important Beach on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Along with the pilot, the helicopter was carrying Riaan and Elmarie Steenberg and Marle and Edward Swart, all from Auckland, Latest Zealand, and one other unnamed passenger, reported by the purpose of sale.
Miraculously, all survived with minor injuries after the windshield shattered, sending shards of glass through the cabin.
Nevertheless, 4 people from the second plane were killed after it ran aground: pilot Ash Jenkinson, 40, British couple Ron and Diane Hughes, 65 and 57, and Vanessa Tadros, a 36-year-old mum from Sydney.
![A passenger tries to warn a helicopter pilot about another helicopter](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/gold-coast-helicopter-03.jpg?w=1024)
![Wreck of two helicopters](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/gold-coast-helicopter-06.jpg?w=1024)
“Yes, we were in a helicopter crash, I’m still in Gold Coast Hospital recovering from my injuries” Elmarie, Real Estate Agent, wrote on Facebook. “I can only thank God for sparing us all.”
The couple’s son, Enrico, thanked James for landing the helicopter after the collision.
“Due to the pilot for saving my parents from the crash and any prayers for the family who lost their family members,” he wrote on Instagram.
The chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Angus Mitchell, said the second helicopter took off and was within the air for lower than 20 seconds before the accident.
“After the impact, it took a few seconds before it hit the bottom. So it developed in a short time,” he told reporters, reports 7 News.
![Broken glass flies through the cabin](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/gold-coast-helicopter-05.jpg?w=1024)
![Wreck of two helicopters](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/gold-coast-helicopter-07.jpg?w=1024)
Mitchell said the foremost blade of the helicopter that was taking off apparently struck the cockpit of the opposite helicopter during its descent.
“Exactly if that was the primary point of impact, we have not determined yet,” he reportedly said. “But this in itself led to the separation of the foremost rotor within the gearbox from the foremost helicopter, which then had no lift and fell heavily to the bottom.”
James managed to maintain the helicopter upright after the stricken ship landed.
“We could have had a much worse situation here,” Mitchell said. “The incontrovertible fact that one helicopter was capable of land was remarkable.”
The two helicopters, which were operated by Sea World Helicopters, were carrying a total of 13 people, including pilots.
Three other passengers within the crashed helicopter were seriously injured.
Tadros’ 10-year-old son Nicholas remained within the hospital in critical condition.
![Victims Chopper Diane Hughes, 57, and her husband Ron Hughes, 65](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/four-killed-helicopters-collide-australia-14.jpg?w=1024)
Her husband, Simon, asked for prayers for his or her boy, who had undergone multiple surgeries.
“I’m asking that everybody can say a prayer for Nicky so he can get up and recover,” he wrote on social media. reports the Every day Mail.
“He’s in a medically induced coma on a life support machine to assist him breathe (sic). He’s in a very serious and demanding condition. I’m asking for all of your prayers for my little man to return back to me.” Simon added.
Winnie de Silva, 33, from Geelong, and her 9-year-old son, Leon, are also within the hospital.
De Silva, who’s from Kenya, said that just 20 seconds after takeoff, she heard a “loud bang” and felt a shudder because the foremost rotor blades tore through the second helicopter’s cockpit.
![Riaan and Elmarie Steenberg who survived the crash](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/steenberg-helicopter-09.jpg?w=1024)
“I saw the pilot pressing all these buttons, stressed – he didn’t know what to do. I do not remember much [after that] but everyone was trembling and fearful,” she told the Herald Sun.
Because the Eurocopter EC130 was falling, she said she grabbed Leon’s hand and squeezed it tightly.
“All I saw was death in my eyes. I didn’t need to see death in my eyes, so I closed my eyes and held my son’s hand next to me,” De Silva told the newspaper.
The woman had broken legs, severe injuries to her left knee, a severely broken right shoulder and a shattered collarbone.
![First responders at the scene of the accident](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/gold-coast-helicopter-08.jpg?w=1024)
Her son suffered a skull fracture, brain trauma and facial injuries and is in a medically induced coma at Queensland Kid’s Hospital in Brisbane.
The accident remains to be being investigated.