For many New Zealanders the Erebus tragedy is an event such as man landing on the moon or the Kennedy assassination. You remember where you were and what you were doing when the news came through. As a nation our hearts went out to the relatives of those who had been killed. Pretty much everyone knew someone who knew someone that had been affected directly by the tragedy. One of us at The Hive worked for a number of years with the daughter of someone who was killed on that flight. We therefore take more than a passing interest in the views of family members of those killed.
It seems that some relatives of those killed have been trying to get permission to visit Antarctica to remember their loved ones close to where they died. But the Government doesn't like the idea.
The timing of the visit to Antarctica by Winston Peters partner was therefore a bad one. This from TVNZ:
Anger is mounting among families who lost relatives in the Erebus disaster because they are not allowed to visit the area.
The son of a man killed in the disaster wants to be allowed to travel to Antarctica and is annoyed Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters took his partner on an official visit when he hasn't been able to go.
Flight 901 crashed into Mt Erebus 29 years ago, killing 257 people, including John Houghton whose son Eric was just nine when he lost his dad.
"It was a horrific thing to happen to a child...I suppose it was made all the worse by the fact that it was a national tragedy as well," Eric Houghton says.
He wants to go to Antarctica to pay his respects but requests for help from the government have been unsuccessful.
Houghton is outraged Peters was allowed to take his partner to the ice on an official visit.
