ALMOST UNPRECEDENTED
SERIES 1
episode 1
a plane crashes into a pit
It is 1988.
A light aircraft lays at the bottom of an unused and inaccessible pit at an open cut mine in the Hunter Valley, N.S.W. Australia.
There were four people on board. The Mines Rescue will need to get to the plane some 60 metres (200 feet) down a highwall to find survivors…but there is no road.
​
Kel Bendeich recalls his account of the rescue, as one of the Hunter Valley Mines Rescue personnel to respond, and he interviews Barry ‘The Bear’ Schafferius who was the mine manager at the time.
​
This story also delves into the infamous Johann Friedrich Hohenberger or John Friedrich as he was more commonly known.
John's vision of a National Aero Medical and Retrieval service with bases around Australia was unparalleled. Many now regard John Friedrich the 'father' of aero medical and retrieval , he changed the way it was done
​
episode 2
STRANDED IN THE GULF
It is the wet season in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory Australia.
Two young travellers have been trapped for 26 hours on the top of their campervan as a rising river and crocodiles threaten to take them under.
The authorities are some 900km away. An Emergency Response Team from a remote mine is closer.
Can the ERT reach them in time…and if they do…how do they get them to safety…
​
Kel Bendeich recalls his account of the rescue, as the mine emergency response coordinator, he interviews one of the rescuers , Johnny Waerea AB, the ERT Captain who won the Australian Government's Bravery Award for his heroism.
episode 3
CROCODILES & WITCH DOCTORS
This mine was very remote. In the 1980's, there was no road to the site.
​
A road would be constructed in the following decade.
A majority of construction workers would travel to the site by company speed boat.
An airport was being built; this would allow many to fly in from the outside world.
The jungles of Borneo are legendary, this mine site is surrounded by an ancient forest, home to the Orangutan, the Clouded Leopard, the Sun Bear, in fact 222 mammals in total, 44 of which are not found anywhere else on Earth. There are 420 different birds including the Hornbill, 37 are not found anywhere else.
​
Did I mention Crocodile? Borneo is home to the giant saltwater crocodile, the biggest reptile on earth at around six meters long, fully grown.
The mining operation constructed two new towns, adjacent to the old village of Sangatta. Thousands were employed during construction, today the population is 125,000.
In the 1990's Kel Bendeich was the Superintendent Emergency Services for the mine. Kel had 33 full-time Emergency Response personnel, manning two emergency stations 25 kilometres apart.
The role of the emergency response team included the ever growing village and river of Sangatta.
​
The guest on this Podcast is Lou Fillis a Ship's Engineer who was there to witness this incredible story.
episode 4
TRAPPED IN AN overturned EXPLOSIVES TRUCK
It’s September 2024.
A Breaking News story out of Queensland, Australia. A truck carrying 42 tonnes of ammonium nitrate has crashed, caught fire and exploded. The blast so devasting it is heard and rattled windows 50 kilometres away, the mushroom plume was seen 10 kilometres away and it left a crater 5 metre deep in the national highway.
The evacuation zone was set up 2.5 kilometres from the scene. The highway was closed, with repairs to the roadway taking 4 days.
What would you have done 30 years ago, if you were faced with the same scenario? But, the driver of the explosive truck was still trapped in his cabin. A life is a life.
Your mental risk assessment, based on previous and similar scenarios around the globe, tells you what could happen. But a life is life.
A true story from a very remote mine in Borneo Indonesia.
Kel Bendeich was the Emergency Response Superintendent who responded with his emergency response team. The Mine Manager, Lindsay Richardson, also responded to the scene.
Lindsay joins Kel and Carrie as the guest on this podcast.
ALMOST UNPRECEDENTED
YOUR STORY
SERIES 2
episode 1
THE EAST LEVEE BANK WALL INCIDENT
From one of the world's largest mines, from one of the world's most remote Emergency Response Team.
The story that made news at Remote Mining Emergency Response Teams around the world.
This podcast has now been recorded by the professional emergency response superintendent who was there on the scene.
THE EAST LEVEE BANK TREE INCIDENT
"An eye for an eye" "A life for a life"
Jeffery Alan Simpkins better known as Jeff, from Morgantown, West Virginia USA, spent 30 years at this mine Above the Clouds.
He tells of threats to his own life and the decisions of his responding Emergency Response Team.
Join Jeff, Carrie and Kel as they discuss this true, Almost Unprecedented Story that can’t be missed.