This story is part of White Silence, a six-part podcast series from Stuff and RNZ to mark the 40th anniversary of the Erebus disaster. You can listen to White Silence on Stuff, or via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or any other app using the RSS feed. The episodes will be released daily from Friday, November 8.
COMMENT: Erebus. You don’t need to say any more than that. Just the one word and any New Zealander knows what you mean: Antarctica, plane crash.
The name of the volcano that an Air New Zealand DC10 slammed into on November 28, 1979, killing all 257 people on board, has become shorthand for tragedy and controversy.
It is still the country’s deadliest disaster and it’s almost as well-known for one famous phrase: ‘An orchestrated litany of lies’.
For all that name recognition though, how much do you really know about what happened?
STUFF
At the heart of the story is Air New Zealand, one of our best-known and liked companies.
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