Helicopter crash at Sea World: Winnie de Silva and son Leon survived but were left with serious injuries

A mother who moved to Australia from Kenya and dreamed of taking her son on a helicopter ride now lies in hospital while her boy fights for his life after their Sea World tour flight crashed.

Winnie de Silva, 33, and her nine-year-old son Leon are among three passengers who were seriously injured when their helicopter took off from the theme park’s heliport on Monday afternoon and collided with another helicopter 20 seconds later.

Pilot Ash Jenkinson, 40, Sydney’s mother Vanessa Tadros, 36, and British couple Ron Hughes, 65, and Dianne Hughes, 57, died tragically when the Eurocopter EC130 dived into a sandbar on the Gold Coast Broadwater.

Ms de Silva’s husband Neil had taken the Geelong family on a short break to the Gold Coast and decided to call out a 10-minute flight for the couple so they could have the experience, despite being on a “budget holiday to save money”.

Winnie de Silva, 33, moved to Australia from Kenya and was joined by her son Leon, 9, (pictured together) just a year ago

Ms de Silva has two broken legs, a broken right shoulder, a broken collarbone and a damaged left knee after the Sea World helicopter crash

After waving the pair away, Mr. de Silva watched in “numb” disbelief as they climbed into the other helicopter’s flight path, collided in a glass explosion and plummeted to the ground.

“It’s the kind of thing where you expect people to die, but I’ve tried to be as positive as possible,” he told The Herald Sun.

Ms de Silva is hospitalized at Gold Coast University with two broken legs, a broken right shoulder, a broken collarbone and a damaged left knee.

Her husband said she told him her life flashed before her eyes before they hit the ground.

The community worker is stable but now faces months of surgery, rehabilitation and recovery.

Leon – who only moved to Australia a year ago to be with his mother – is in a more serious condition, having sustained a fractured skull, brain trauma and facial injuries in the accident.

He is being treated at Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane and is now in an induced coma.

Her son Leon has a fractured skull and is fighting for his life in the hospital

Ms de Silva’s husband Neil had taken the Geelong family on a short break to the Gold Coast and decided to call out a 10-minute flight for the couple so they could have the experience, despite being on a “budget holiday to save money”.

“The hospital called me this morning to say the left side isn’t responding the way they wanted it to,” Mr de Silva said.

“They asked my permission to drill a hole in the right side of his skull to attach a device to monitor his brain pressure.”

Mr De Silva added that despite their serious injuries, he was happy they both survived. He set up GoFundMe to help with her hospital bills.

The plane’s third survivor is a 10-year-old boy from Sydney whose mother, Vanessa Tadros, was among the dead.

He is also fighting for his life at Gold Coast University Hospital.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash, specifically what was happening in the two cockpits at the time of impact, and has recovered both helicopters from the sandbar.

ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said Mr Jenkinson’s plane took off and was airborne less than 20 seconds before its main rotor blades struck the cockpit of the second helicopter, which was descending to land.

“Whether that was exactly the very first point of impact – we have yet to determine,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“But that alone caused the main rotor and gearbox to separate from the main helicopter (Mr. Jenkinson), which then had no lift and fell heavily to the ground.”

Sea World’s two helicopters collided in front of hundreds of holidaymakers on the Gold Coast

The ATSB is now conducting an investigation into the cause of the collision between the two helicopters

Mr Mitchell said it was a remarkable achievement for the other pilot to land despite the damage to his plane and his actions helped avoid a far worse situation.

“There are tremendous forces at play in any aircraft accident, especially helicopter collisions,” he said.

“The presence of mind to be able to land this helicopter, particularly given the damage we know to have occurred to the front left side of the helicopter, appears to have been a remarkable feat in getting it down.”

Sea World Helicopters, which operated both aircraft, and Village Roadshow Theme Parks offered their condolences to the victims, their families, and Sea World guests and employees who witnessed the crash.

“We support our team members who are emotionally affected by the tragedy,” Village Roadshow said in a statement.