Prayers at Scott Base in the Antarctic to remember Mt Erebus crash thirty years ago.

Erebus tragedy: The quest for truth.

A prayer will be said and a period of silence observed at Scott Base around 12.50pm today to mark the moment 30 years ago when an Air New Zealand plane crashed in Antarctica.

All 257 passengers and crew on Flight 901, which was on a sightseeing trip from Auckland on November 28, 1979, died when the DC10 struck the foothills of Mt Erebus.

Memorial services were being held at 11am today at Scott Base, from which Erebus is visible, and in Auckland and Christchurch.

Scott Base co-ordinator Yvonne Costar said 60 to 80 people were expected at the service at the base.

Among them would be staff from the United States research centre at McMurdo Station.

"We have quick a few people coming from McMurdo," she said.

"Some of them were here 30 years ago."

The service will be held indoors in the dining room, and others who will be present include six people who lost family members in the crash.

The six - among them Pip Collins, daughter of the pilot, Captain Jim Collins - were drawn by ballot to fly on a US Air Force C10 cargo plane for the anniversary.

Ms Costar said the service would be followed by lunch and then the 12.50pm ceremony, which would be outside at the flagpole.

Earlier today, Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe, flight attendants and pilots attended a wreath laying ceremony at the Erebus Crew Memorial Garden at Auckland Airport.

Also remembered were the five New Zealanders and two Germans who lost their lives in an Air NZ Airbus crash in the south of France a year ago today.

Family members of those New Zealanders have gathered in Perpignan for commemorations there.

Acknowledgements: NZPA

SHOULD THE NEW ZEALAND NAVY BE SENT TO ESCORT JAPANESE WHALERS FROM NEW ZEALAND WATERS IN THE ANTARCTIC ROSS SEA - SEND A FRIGATE WITH GUNS READY TO BLAZE PERHAPS...


A New Zealand Orion patrol aircraft spotted the Japanese whaling fleet heading for the Antarctic Ross sea, heightening concerns the Japanese will begin hunting in New Zealand's Antarctic territory.

The aircraft was on a routine surveillance of fishing activity in the Southern Ocean. Until previously the Japanese whaling fleet had confined its activities to Australian territorial waters. An Australian Federal court ruling last week declared the Japanese fleets activities as being illegal.

The New Zealand conservation Minister has said the New Zealand Government was concerned about the whaling fleets movements, particularly because NZ is responsible for search and rescue operations in the Ross Sea.

The Minister, Ms Steve Chadwick, said we are concerned for the risk to human life and the Antarctic's pristine environment if the Japanese fleet encounter's problems there. Just last year there was a fire aboard the factory ship, NISHIN MARU, stranding it in the Ross Sea. One crew member was killed and the stricken ship containing hundreds of tonnes of heavy fuel oil, posted a genuine environmental risk.

This poses a real question: Considering the Japanese fleet is illegally entering New Zealand Antarctic waters, should a New Zealand naval frigate be sent to escort the fleet from NZ waters?