9 Jan 2012

Balloon tragedy in all the papers

8:15 am on 9 January 2012

All the papers on Monday feature the hot air balloon tragedy in Carterton on Saturday.

The New Zealand Herald talks to the father of the youngest man killed. Jan Jordaan says he hopes his son Chrisjan and his girlfriend Alexis Still were the pair who jumped from the balloon rather than among those who burned to death in the basket.

And a power engineer said the victims may have died from electrocution before the basket landed.

The Waikato Times, The Dominion Post and The Press have the same two stories on their front pages.

They talk to the parents of Alexis Still who describe the moment when they heard the news of the accident.

And they have an interview with a witness, Carterton farmer Damon Searle, who says he will never forget the screams.

The Otago Daily Times leads with the balloon accident.

Other news

The Waikato Times also has the Rena story on its front page. It says teams are to begin cleaning oil and debris from Bay of Penty beaches on Monday.

About 300 containers were lost overboard when the ship split in two on Saturday night.

The ODT also features Graeme Wilson of Dunedin who saved a woman from drowning at Tokomairiro North on Saturday. He describes how he swam out to the woman and saved her, but waves away any suggestion of bravery or heroism.

And people are pictured racing against the Kingston Flyer over a 12km stretch from Fairlight to Kingston.

Some 400 people competed, with Oska Inkster the winner in 38 minutes and 43 seconds, 22 minutes ahead of the train.