This is the moment a group of heroic bystanders leapt into action in a desperate attempt to save a British family of five and the pilot of a seaplane that plunged into the Hawkesbury River.
Kurt Bratby, Todd Sellars and Lachlan Hewitt watched in horror as the aircraft ‘fell from the sky’ on New Year’s Eve, tragically killing all six on board.
The trio were enjoying a beer with other friends on the popular river, north of Sydney, when they a heard a ‘huge noise, a boom’.
They lassoed a rope around the sinking plane, tied the tailfin to their dingy and took it in turns to dive 7ft down into the water in a bid to pull the family to safety.
Tragically, the doors could not be opened and the fuel in the water stifled their rescue attempt.
This is the haunting moment three fishermen dove beneath the surface of the Hawkesbury River, north of Sydney, in an effort to save six people trapped on-board the seaplane
Todd Sellars (pictured left) and Lachlan Hewitt (right) watched in horror as the aircraft ‘fell from the sky’ on New Year’s Eve, tragically killing all six on board
Real estate agent Kurt Bratby, 27, and his friend Lachlan Hewitt rushed to the scene of the crash
Emma Bowden, 48, posed up with her 11-year-old daughter Heather in front of Sydney Opera House days before the doomed 1960s single-engine DHC-2 Beaver plane plunged into the Hawksbury River, north of Sydney, Australia on New Year’s Eve. This is the final known photo of the two together
Despite onlookers warning them the fuel could spark, Kurt said he and his three friends did not give up hope when they could not wrench open the door of the plane.
‘We were just loading up the houseboat when my friends called out. We got out to the scene in under a minute,’ said Mr Bratby, a 27-year-old estate agent.
‘We didn’t think about the dangers. Once the adrenaline kicked in we were just thinking about the people we could save.’
The men rushed to the scene on a smaller boat before diving underwater through fuel and debris in a desperate bid to pull the passengers to safety.
The friends then tied the tail of the doomed plane to their dinghy and tried in vain to drag the aircraft to the shoreline, but it was too late.
Mr Sellars, 32, whose social media accounts show a man with a love for the outdoors and hunting, said police told him the friends did all that they could.
‘They had probably suffered catastrophic injuries and been killed in the crash,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.
‘I’m not sure if I saw a lady or it was the lights playing tricks on me… It was awful because we knew people were in there and we couldn’t get them out.’
The friends, including Central Coast bricklayer Lachlan Hewitt (pictured), repeatedly dived underwater to get to the wreckage in a bid to pull the six passengers to safety
Kurt Bratby with his girlfriend, Renae Grayston and friend Lachlan Hewitt. The men pictured left and right attempted to save the victims of the seaplane crash
‘We were just loading up the houseboat when my friends called out. We got out to the scene in under a minute,’ said Mr Bratby
The trios’ friend Will McGovern, who stayed at the wheel of the boat as his mates dove in search of survivors, said he feared they too may become victims.
‘Dead set, they could have died… The whole time I was freaking out that this fuel was going to spark,’ he told the ABC.
‘The plane was moving fast, it was going down fast – they could have got sucked in.’
Mr McGovern said despite the tragedy, he hoped the family of those killed would be comforted in some way by knowing strangers had done everything to save them.
‘The families of these poor people, they need to know people were there risking their lives trying to help their family members,’ he said.
‘It was an extraordinary level of bravery that my three mates showed getting in the water.’
Mr Bratby, a 27-year-old estate agent from the Central Coast, said: ‘We didn’t think about the dangers. Once the adrenaline kicked in we were just thinking about the people we could save’
One of the three heroes, Central Coast bricklayer Lachlan Hewitt, is pictured at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium
The crash killed high-profile UK businessman Richard Cousins, 58, his sons, Edward and William Cousins, aged 23 and 25, Mr Cousins’ fiancee Emma Bowden, 48, and her daughter, Heather Bowden-Page, 11.
Experienced pilot Gareth Morgan, 44, also died.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators worked with divers at the crash site on Tuesday to assess how best to recover the wreckage.
A crane or airbags are being considered as options to refloat the plane, hopefully on Thursday, the ATSB said.
Mr Bratby told how he risked his own life in an underwater battle to save the passengers of the doomed Sydney seaplane crash
The crash killed experienced pilot Gareth Morgan (left), 44, and high-profile UK businessman Richard Cousins (right), 58,
Emma Bowden, 48, and her daughter Heather, 11, died in the horror seaplane crash in the Hawkesbury River
Investigators hope data will be recovered from the plane’s avionics instruments and any smartphones or cameras which were on board to piece together the final moments before the crash.
The Seaplane Pilots Association Australia said the aircraft involved in the crash is considered safer than other small planes because of its capacity to land on water in an emergency.
But it is believed the plane nosedived suddenly, leaving the pilot no time to make a mayday call before it plunged into the river.
Mr Cousins’ sons Edward, 23 (left) and William, 25 (right) were also killed when their seaplane plunged into the Hawkesbury River
This is believed to be the last photograph taken of pilot 44-year-old Gareth Morgan, 44
The seaplane is pictured in Sydney just hours before the tragic accident that killed six people